[joshuacc]

"I also don't appreciate the call to some kind of moral high ground ... Wouldn't make any difference to his argument, either."

In fact, the moral standing of participants in an argument does make a difference. It informs us regarding the credibility of their moral judgment. For example, the moral judgment of someone who knocks over convenience stores for a living is probably a wee bit less reliable than the moral judgment of someone who spends his time serving the poor in soup kitchens.

[saturn]

Well, at the risk of further downvotes, I think that's totally irrelevant. No-one is down at the soup kitchen asking what the volunteers have to say about intellectual property reform. It is a complicated topic and the personal altruism of the person making the argument has basically nothing to do with anything.