[sklipo]

I think his point was that just because a crime is easy to commit, it doesn't mean that it's okay to do it. Just because pirating things is easy, doesn't mean that it should be okay, in the same way that if getting guns and killing people was easy, it wouldn't mean that doing so is okay.

[bad_user]

I was trying to say that guns will never be cheap enough or as easy to distribute. From the point of view highlighted by you, the comparison is even more flawed.

Downloading a file doesn't threaten anybody's life. Killing for the sake of killing is also not about money.

Before refrigerators happened, I'm sure there were companies selling ice to rich folk for a nice price. And if you lived then, I'm sure you could come up with all sorts of reasons for why refrigerators should be outlawed.

[sklipo]

What I'm trying to say (and what I think jayzee was trying to convey) is that rbanffy's logic is flawed, and that just because pirating things is easy doesn't make it right. What we call pirating might be okay, but the idea that because something is easy to do it shouldn't be illegal is flawed. Attempting murder is arguably just as easy as downloading a pirated version of a game, but it's not okay. The only difference between the two is that it feels obvious that murder is harmful, but downloading that song instead of paying for it doesn't feel quite as bad.

That being said, I agree that copying things should be legal, but not because doing so is easy. I think that it should be legal to copy things because I don't think people should be allowed to restrict what I do just because they want more money.

[nitrogen]

I don't believe rbanffy ever said "easy." The actual word used was "unavoidable." The inevitable result of giving people the practically limitless ability to copy information without cost is that people will copy information.

In response to your earlier comment ("...just because a crime is easy to commit..."), the right question to be asking is why something that's inevitable should be considered a crime at all. You might as well outlaw the water cycle.

In that light, the question is not "How do we stop the inevitable," but "What do we do to keep making big money in harmony and cooperation with the inevitable?"

[Peaker]

Accurate 3d printers may make guns very cheap.

EDIT: To the downvoter, you should probably take a look at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQHnMj6dxj4