The act of pirating copyrighted materials online should be legal

It is true that revenue has increased since the invention of digital media, but this can be accounted for by at least two things: First, with the invention of a new way to purchase things, that’s going to naturally increase revenue rather than just having one method of purchasing product. Second, buying on-line is easier and cheaper (usually $1 per song, and $10 per album, as opposed to buying from the store which, unless it’s on sale, can run you about $18). However, this does not excuse breaking the law to get product for free. You might as well say bank robbery should be legal because banks pull in much more revenue than a gas station. I would now like to respond to Pro’s second argument. He said, “I would also like to point out that piracy has the ability to raise sales. One example is when comic book writer Steve Lieber's comic was put into PDF form and bootlegged on 4chan. Shortly after the bootlegging, his comic sales dramatically increased. ” Piracy may have the ability to raise sales, but it also has the ability to lower sales. Comic books are much cheaper than CD’s (comic books, as far as I know, typically run anywhere from $1 to $5, as opposed to digital albums ($10) and physical albums ($18)). Apart from that, if someone pirates music, they may realize they don’t like the album and decide not to purchase it. Or, since music has the propensity to be pretty costly, they may have to be very impressed by the music before they purchase it, whereas it may be good enough that they would purchase it if it were offered cheaper. Regarding Pro’s third argument, I don’t believe the American Revolution and slavery are applicable analogies. It is true that what is legal is not always right and vice versa, however, the American Revolution and the end of slavery were about human rights. It was wrong to make Africans (and the other nationalities) slaves, and the American Revolution was begun to escape the tyranny of the British monarchy. It is not a basic human right to steal. Especially living in the United States (forgive me if you live outside the country), we live in a capitalist country. Many bands give away their music for free, but if a band tries to make a living with it and sells their music for product, they are perfectly within their right to do so, and you are not within your right to take it without paying for it. Pirating is equivalent to theft. If you steal something from a store, provided you get away with it, you receive product for free and neither the store, nor the artists/producer responsible for creating the product, get paid. If you pirate music, you are taking music for free and neither a potential store where you would have purchased the music from nor the artist/producer responsible for creating the product, will get paid. Additionally, if you steal something from me, I can still get it back if you have a change of heart. It can still be returned to me, so the analogy fails in that respect, as well. Not only is internet piracy against the law because it violates copyright (you cannot reproduce or distribute the music without permission or paying royalties), but it is the equivalent to stealing. Therefore, internet piracy should remain illegal and no one should be surprised if music companies or artists demand legal recompense for someone who commits the act.