[yahwrong]

> assert that the US is doing the same thing and therefore we can't complain.

Yeah that's the point. normal people don't want to feel like hypocrites and why whataboutism is effective. Narcists don't suffer from this and so are happy to pass blame.

[some_random]

It's not always even whataboutism, I've seen people apologize for IP theft on this site by saying that US industrialists did it two centuries ago.

[gdhbcc]

Thats stupid, there nothing wrong with violating IP laws, regardless of who did it first.

[Jamwinner]

Will future employers google your SN and see this? What would they think? While you may have a solid argument that many IP laws are poorly written, used, and enforced, brazenly dismissing all of them is not a better position, ethically or practically.

[yahwrong]

It absolutely is ethically better and practical though however. IP is just information and information is meant to be free. To restrict it behind artificial pay walls is repugnant.