Introduction Mary Campbell, a Kenyan student, is a fan of Alvin Slaughter’s gospel music and thus she is doing all she can to acquire the musician’s songs. Unfortunately, she realizes that to purchase the original CD from a music store, it would cost her about 500 shillings (equivalent to about seven US dollars) which she cannot raise as she is jobless. Her best friend Joyce hails from a well to do family and has all the singer’s latest music albums. Suddenly an idea pops into Mary’s mind like an eagle catching its prey. She can borrow Mary’s CDs and burn them from an underground dealer and that would only cost her about a dollar. She however still wonders whether it is morally right to do so. Mary is not alone as there are other people who engage in this activity for various reasons. This research paper shows that it is morally wrong to burn copies of CD’s downloaded from the web or borrowed from a friend. Ethics and morality The word moral can be described as that code of conduct which is created by the society, religious groups or that is accepted by a person for his or her own behavior. So generally, morality can be defined as the code of conduct which when given particular conditions, would be acceptable by majority of rational persons (Gert, 2008). Gert however states that by defining morality as such would be limiting its full meaning; since by stating that it is only a code of conduct created by a society denies the fact that there exists universal morality applicable to every human being. The normative description of morality places a person in a situation where “any adult who is normal” will be in a position to realize the general actions that are required, prohibited, encouraged, discouraged and allowed by morality (Gert, 2008). Utilitarian explanation On the issue of burning of CDs, one needs to differentiate between utilitarianism from deontological ethics. Utilitarianism can be described as that ethical system that believes that maximizing the joy and happiness of the entire society is the most important ethical thing to do (Physics Forums, 2008). In this, it means that all the actions that would bring outcomes that make the majority in the society to be happy should be highly encouraged. What is important is not how the actions will be done but whether their consequences would be acceptable to the members of the larger society. ‘The ends justify the means” would be the best phrase to use in utilitarianism (Physics Forums, 2008). The utilitarianism has the claim that no universal moral truth exists; for the truths can not be ascertained. Moreover, the disadvantages and the advantages of the actions can be easily calculated. This means that instead of relying on the moral truths that are ambiguous, people should deal with ways that are concrete and that can be used to determine whether a certain act is moral or not (Physics Forums, 2008). In this case, utilitarianism would argue that burning CDs from the internet and from a friend depends on whether the outcome would bring happiness to the larger part of the population. One would argue that he desires to have the CDs and listen to music but does not have the necessary funds to do so. This