Downloading In Canada Is Legal, Is It Still A Mortal Sin?

[Almeria]

I can’t recommend highly enough archive.org’s Live Music Archive. It is a HUGE listing of concerts that the artists allowed to be recorded by individuals (some artists even let individuals plug into the soundboard!) and agree to let be downloaded for free. With over 20,000 concerts there, I think you’d find something you’d like there.

 

[Edwin1961]

AlanFromWichita:

Not if you don’t see it as stealing. Are your downloads hurting the artists in some way?

Do you just feel guilty because you are getting something for nothing? That’s how I feel sometimes about what Christ has done for us.

Alan

Isn’t God’s Law higher than the law from Man? We are supposed to obey the civil authorities, like Christ told us, BUT when the civil law makes us decide whether to committ sin or not, God’s law supercedes Man.

 

[Luke-Jr]

This thread just shows how far society has gone brainwashing people into thinking that exercising their natural rights is somehow wrong… it’s really sad.

Steven87:

Since I am obeying the law, but doing something that some classify as stealing,

Exercising your natural rights to redistribute information is is no way stealing nor sinful.

neophyte:

I’m not familiar with law in Canada, nor am I a lawyer, but I have a passing familiarity with some of the basic principles of intellectual property law.

Unjust laws are irrelevant to morals.

neophyte:

The audio recording industry developed with the revenues being generated through many discreet sales of recordings. Television developed in a very different manner; the intellectual property owners of television programming are fully paid through the advertising sales at the time of broadcast, so I imagine that that’s at least part of the reason the two media are treated differently.

These industries are currently based upon abusing monopolies over information granted by unjust laws.

neophyte:

The fact is that neither you nor I own the property rights to the music. The artist does.

Information is not property. Nobody owns information.

neophyte:

If I think that the sitcker price for the recording is too high, or I don’t like what I perceive as inconsistencies in those prices, then I’m free to NOT BUY THE WORK.

But I’m not free to steal it, no matter how much I want to rationalize that I am.

Only property can be stolen. Information cannot.

michaelgazin:

Media “piracy” has been going on for as long as there has been media. While it is not right to “rationalize” it, that is what all of mankind has done for every other form of piracy.

I’m not aware of anybody attacking ships, murdering the passengers and looting what’s left… nor am I aware of anyone trying to rationalise such behaviour.

rwoehmke:

Seems like copyright means nothing.

Exactly.

PMV:

Stealing is breaking one of the 10 Commandments, but it’s not a mortal sin as far as I’m concerned.

Nor is sharing information anything similar to stealing.

DavidB:

There’s no question that downloading music that is copyrighted is illegal and is stealing, and thus a sin.

Actually, there is no question that you are wrong:

1. Downloading copyrighted music is not illegal in the US or Canada (though uploading it is in the US, if you are pushing the data)
2. Not even the unjust copyright law dares make the claim that copyright infringement is stealing.

 

[Evanescence]

Oh gosh i hope downloading music isn’t a mortal sin!

I download heaps of music off minmx! nooooooooooooooooooooooooo I must of commited about 100 mortal sins! eek!

:bigyikes: :bigyikes: :bigyikes:

Evanescence

 

[Box_Car_Racer]

Uh. I hate the law. We’re already confused enough about morality and then they come up with that trash. The law just makes things confusing and can be stupid at times. I heard putting trash in your own mailbox is a felony. Why does God make us follow it?

 

[wcknight]

It’s very questionable whether breaking civic laws are sinful. IF they have little to do with moral codes they may not be a sin at all. In fact if the civic law contradicts morality it may even be more sinful to obey it.

For example in Germany, Hitler made it illegal to do business with jews. To follow such an unjust law would be against moral code to deal fairly with all peoples. It would not be sinful to break such laws and more sinful to follow them.

Downloading legally may be somewhat sinful (minor unless you really believe that it is a serious offense) in that ideally you are obtaining something that does not rightfully belong to you, IF the orginator of the material does want to have it distributed for free.

IF the orginator (creator of the music for example) of the download does not care if the music is distributed, then the download is not sinful whether done legally or illegally. I think in this case the breaking of the civil law does not break any moral priniciples because the rightful owner is willing to give it away for free.

IF you download illegally and the ‘owner’ of the download does NOT want it distributed then, I think the action is sinful. BUT unless you think it is seriously sinful, it is not a mortal sin.

Personally I don’t think it is seriously sinful, but I don’t download stuff anyway. So to me it is a mote point. My kids are big time downloaders, and we sometimes debate the morality of this. They think it actually helps the music industry because they listen to one or two of the songs and end up buying the CD anyway.

The morality of a high tech world gets more complicated with every new advance. Pretty soon we will have to add in a few new commandments… thou shalt not download or thou shalt not break copy write protection… :whacky:

wc

 

[Michael_T]

The question asked if downloading is a mortal sin. In order for something to be a mortal sin, the matter must be serious, the person performing the action must know it is serious, and he or she must freely consent to the action.

Downloading television shows, movies, or even music for private use (not for redistribution in order to make a profit, which would be a serious sin) does not constitute objectively serious matter, so it would never be a mortal sin to do so unless the person believed it was a mortal sin to do so (because they were misinformed) and freely chose to do it anyway. The sin there would be the fact that they believed they would be seriously offending God and freely chose to do so anyway.

As for whether it is a venial sin, I don’t really think so. I would say that there is little difference between downloading a television show or movie and taping it off television or cable. It is such a nothing type of an act that I find it hard to believe people are so scrupulous about it. Same for songs. It is like taping a song off the radio or a friend’s CD. It’s not that big a deal.

It would be different if you were then selling the songs to other people, but for private use, I’d say it’s next to nothing.

Then this question adds that it is in Canada where downloading is legal. That cinches it. It’s perfectly fine to do so under such circumstances.

 

[didymus]

asteroid:

This reply has nothing whatsoever to do with downloading.

Legality under national law is not a good guideline for deciding if something is sin. I could easily say: “Abortion / Promiscuity / Pornographic Movies / Gambling / Becoming a Satanist etc etc are legal in the United Kingdom. Are they still mortal sins?”

That question would be ridiculous I know. I haven’t got an answer on whether someone’s downloading things is wrong. But basing right and wrong on whatever the law says at a particular time leaves a lot to be desired when confronted by an eternal God.

Well, copyright is a matter of positive civil law but I’m not sure how it fits in with natural law.
“Thou shalt not steal” certainly. Is it stealing to tape a TV show? No. Is it stealing to download it? I’d have to say only if it’s illegal where you are.

 

[kliner]

If the material (be it software, music, or whatever) from the person selling the CD is copyrighted, then violating the copyright by downloading an illegal copy is stealing. Read the licenses that come with software (even video games). Many of them even say “If you don’t agree with this license, please return the product for a refund to: .” In most cases, you don’t even own the software or music that you buy, but a license of it. I’ve used the example (as seen in an above post) about changing the subject matter from something not so clear, as copyrights, to something more clear, like stealing from a store. Essentially, what you are doing is walking into Wal-Mart, grabbing a CD and walking out without paying. If they intended for you to download CD’s or samples of their CD’s, don’t you think they’d set up a website allowing such things? This is stealing, and considering the prerequisites for mortal sin (also noted above), it seems possible that this would be committing a mortal sin (even if it were just venial, why would you want to?)

If you want free software use open source. If you want free music, find artists who don’t mind giving their music away. (I understand that there is a movement - much like the open source movements - for music, with licenses and everything)

 

[luvthelight]

i think a lot of the issue has to do with the program you use. some programs, that have come under fire, ie napster and kazaa were completely free, however, there are others that are ad - supported or you pay for. i see these as being no different that buying one of those top - 50 hit cds, or other mix albums. the website receives money for the product, and since these types of sites are still legal, some of this money must go to who ever has hold on the various copy rights

although rather than get all worried about this, i would try sites such as purevolume.com. these sites artists themselves put up their must and select songs that you can download off the site. these sites are also helpful if your just browsing bands/genres

 

[Box_Car_Racer]

im curios if it would me morally legal to download an american cd in canada. also, does anybody know what the law in Mexico says about downloading?

 

[kliner]

Box Car Racer:

im curios if it would me morally legal to download an american cd in canada. also, does anybody know what the law in Mexico says about downloading?

Please read the posts above your question. It seems to have been covered pretty well.

I’m not sure about the laws in Mexico, but it’s possible that it too could be answered by the posts above.

Kevin