[DAnconia55]

Downloading music, intercepting cable signals, etc., are not immoral acts. Certainly we can make them illegal, but in themselves they are not immoral.

You are stealing intellectual property.
Theft is immoral.

You may want to justify away that you're not stealing, but you are.

[zook]

"Intellectual property" is an invention of convenience. As a concept, it is helpful in enabling societies to allot dollars to authors, but it is impossible to define in any real sense. For example, the words and ideas I've written here now belong to no one and everyone. Should someone wish to repeat or paraphrase them, by what natural right can I insist they stop?

The only time any sort of moral question arises is if someone tries to make a claim of authorship on someone else's work, either for profit or not.

The downloading of music cannot truly be called "stealing," for the writer or performer of the song has not lost any intrinsic value. He still has his song, which he wrote or performed knowing full well the risks involved.

I thus continue to download music. However, when I hear some songs I really like (either on the radio or by encountering them via download), I will typically go out and buy the CD, voluntarily giving credit where credit is due.