Comments 7

互联网盗版的道德规则

Feb 10, 2012 Peter Singer

普林斯顿——去年，我对一位同事说要在所授课程中加入互联网道德。她建议我阅读一本不久前出版的计算机伦理著作，而且把整部书以附件的形式发送给我。

我是否应该拒绝阅读盗版著作？我是否像主张严格立法打击互联网盗版者所说的那样收到了赃物？

如果用老式方法去盗窃别人的书籍，书到了我手里，它就不再属于原来的所有者。我是得偿所愿，而她却受到了损失。如果人们使用盗版书籍，倒霉的是出版社和作者——他们失去了卖书的收入。

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Peter Singer

Writing for PS since 2001
157 Commentaries

Peter Singer is Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University and Laureate Professor at the University of Melbourne. His books include Animal Liberation, Practical Ethics, The Ethics of What We Eat (with Jim Mason), Rethinking Life and Death, The Point of View of the Universe, co-authored with Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek, The Most Good You Can Do, Famine, Affluence, and Morality, One World Now, Ethics in the Real World, and, most recently, Utilitarianism: A Very Short Introduction, also with Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek. In 2013, he was named the world's third "most influential contemporary thinker" by the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute.

0 Comments on this paragraph, 6 in all 6 Comments on this article

David Perez Feb 22, 2016

bad
Ximena Padilla Feb 16, 2015

Really good article
Tyler Gaul Jun 20, 2012

I don't think it's too hard to imagine "a way that maximizes the potential of the Internet, while properly rewarding creators." As the infrastructure around physical goods and owned distribution channels deteriorates a new, leaner one, established on the lower margins of digital content, will replace it. Once content companies are able to provide reliability of content for a nominal fee, consumers will adopt this method en masse. It comes down to a simple re-imagining of business practice not of ethics.

I explore this topic more thoroughly in my post about CISPA etc. here: http://tylergaul.tumblr.com/post/24558575400/evolving-capitalism-and-the-real-problem-with-sopa-and
H Gerken Jun 4, 2012

Don't expect the European Parliament to grant consent to the ACTA. It was screwed by the trade department under Commissioner De Gucht. Secret international regulatory negotiations without parliament oversight are against the spirit of the Lisbon treaty, simply unacceptable. And while I appreciate the closing of megaupload, Google's youtube is not unlike that. New Zealand is not part of the United States, so what is the role of the FBI over there?
Eduardo Jimenez Jun 1, 2012

Tengo una biblioteca digital de más de 1000 libros. En mi caso, casi pago casi los precios de Amazon. Pero a veces me pregunto qué es en realidad lo que tengo. Para usar "mis libros", debo tener una laptop, un e-reader, un iPad o iPhone, o todos... y en algún momento tendré que adquirir dispositivos en sus versiones apropiadas para poder seguir leyendo "mis" libros. La cuestión del precio es lo que debe mejorarse. Si bien, para el esutdio de algunos temas las versiones electrónicas de libros con motores de búsqueda y anaálisis de texto son muy convenientes, la inmensa mayoría de las personas sigue leyendo por placer.
Boris Krumov Feb 13, 2012

Stricter laws won't make the situation with piracy better, neither they stand ANY chance in a dynamic media like Internet - the potential of bypassing any new restriction with another layer, level and depth of more sophisticated than the filtering itself framework of hardware and software is immense.

What is needed is another approach, facing the reality of free exchange of informatics, namely - higher ethics.
One such already working example is Coehlo's "pirate" solution - he openly encourages sharing and downloading of his own copywrited works for free, but he also asks people to not only share them with libraries and within neighborhoods, but he appeals for people to buy the book, once they "liked" it and "tried" it for free.
Ethics in regards to piracy must find incentives and stimuli for people to pay ( small ) fees, or donate to the original creators, or support them in any other way - just like Singer says.

Piracy is not going to end, the Internet won't shut down ( or even if it does the alternative communication will pop up right the other day ! ), restrictive laws either won't pass or the moment they do will be wiped out and rendered useless by next innovative way to be bypassed. Lawmakers can save themselves the humiliation from these attempts and face the reality of an open and distributed informational network.

What must and will happen is that we adapt our commercial paradigms and trade models to the more open and less-"possessive" realities.

Thee not only shalt not steal, but thee shalt support the person whose (art)work you like and use. It is easy if you only try !