[bumby]

>nobody is forced to respect it

I was afraid the discussion would go this route.

Yes, copyright is a convention. It’s subject to change. However, IP protections are written into the US Constitution and the bar to change it is relatively high.

Murder is also a crime by convention, there’s no natural law against it. But we generally recognize that to live in a stable society, we must live by certain conventions.

You can play a song on your computer because that is considered appropriate use. You selling tickets to play it, or to copy it and sell it is not because they conceivably limit the authors ability to make money from their creation.

You may not realize it but software is also covered by copyright. For most intents and purposes, it’s considered the worlds worst book; you cannot legally copy and sell it if the license doesn’t allow it.

Edit: added the word "legally" to be more precise

[meiraleal]

> you cannot copy and sell it if the license doesn’t allow it.

Well, good luck trying to force me to not sell your work in my country.