Piracy then, piracy now

I have recently read an article which mentions an amazing thing - if the companies stop selling physical media, and instead only provide DRM based digital artifacts, is it even piracy if I download something illegally? I was never given the option to buy it, only rent it. So I was never an owner anyway. And I continue to not be an owner while pirating too.

Well, it didn’t say exactly that, but you know - paraphrasing and stuff.

I would also add on top of that paraphrased block of text, that if there was no intent to spend money in first place, there can’t even be a loss of possible revenue for someone else.

The formula is simple - if I cannot legally own something without any technological restrictions, I will find other ways how to “obtain” it. The fact, that a hungry corporation is not going to get the money from me is both satisfying and morally fulfilling.

Art should be left to artists, and the technology should only provide artists with means how to present and additionally sell their art. This is why I use sites like Bandcamp to purchase the music I like, because I know the artist is getting at least some sort of support. But if I cannot find a copy of a piece of art for purchase without any technological restrictions (DRM, tied to a specific application, etc), I am not going to participate in the transaction and find my own way.

And stop with the bullshit like “Uhm, but if you like a painting, you don’t go to a gallery and don’t steal a painting, right?”. No, of course I don’t. The same way I don’t steal the master recording from a metal band by torrenting their album, because they or their label is not mature enough to provide an option to purchase it on Bandcamp (or similar).