This is in contrast to my earlier posting today about a constructive encyclical from the Pope about excessive IP in general but and health care in particular.
The Knights of Columbus, a pillar of the Catholic Church, now regards piracy as a breach of the “shall not steal” seventh of the Ten Commandments.
According to this interpretation, you must now confess if you have “pirated materials: videos, music and software.”
After all, stealing is a sin. And piracy is stealing, at least according to the Knights of Columbus. Not to mention certain copyright lobbyist organizations. No thresholds here. No private copying exception. No fair use test.Simply answer the question - "Have I pirated: videos, music, software?"
So - according to the Knights of Columbus, if the answer is "yes", then you gotta confess!
The Knights of Columbus is a serious and reputable organization. Indeed, it is is the world's largest Catholic fraternal service organization. Why is it now concerned with "piracy"? Has it been "lobbied"?
HK
It's concerned with privacy because so many Christians are flagrantly disregarding the law. It may not be stealing but it's still against the law and it's still taking something for free you haven't paid for.
ReplyDeleteThey didn't say ripping a DVD, they explicitly said piracy, i.e. downloading something you haven't paid for.
I think copyright laws and copyright fines are excessive but I also think the way to fight it isn't just ignoring the law.
Two missing commandments found!
ReplyDeleteXI. THOU SHALT MARVEL AT ALL MY CREATION AND IN MY LIKENESS THOU TOO SHALT CREATE – THY DESIGN SHALL BE JOINED TO MINE AND ALL UPON EARTH THAT IS MADE IN ITS FORM SHALL BE SUBJECT TO THY WILL, FOR AS LONG AS THEE SHALL LIVE.
XII. THOU SHALT SCRIBE AND SHARE MY WORD, YET THOU MUST NOT SCRIBE, NOR SHARE AMONG A GATHERING, THE WORD OR GRAVING OF THY NEIGHBOUR WITHOUT HIS LEAVE, WHILST HIS BLOOD LAST.
From Commandments on Creation and Copying.
@Crosbie Fitch: God, the original open source author?
ReplyDelete@Mike Arthur: there are so many problems with that comment and the Knight's material.
ReplyDelete1. It's not illegal to "download something you haven't paid for" -- there are *lots* of cases where that's legal. Unauthorized downloading is illegal, not unpaid downloading (that is, downloading which is not authorized by the law, or by the copyright holder where they have the ability to control who downloads something).
2. Unauthorized downloading may be a sin insofar as it's illegal, but it's not a violation of the seventh commandment. It's not stealing. It's copyright infringement. Those are two very different things, and the Knights of Columbus are wrong to muddle them.
I asked the Archbishop of Toronto, a few months back, if he had any suggestions about where to find out more on the Church's position on "intellectual property." He said he wasn't terribly familiar himself, but recommended that I look in the Catechism of the Catholic Church under the seventh commandment.
There was nothing there about copyright or patents. It was about stealing physical things.
Yet, I found lots of comments in related areas that were much more like the Pope's comment in his latest encyclical.
The Knights of Columbus are wrong to muddle this issue with the seventh commandment, and it's a misrepresentation of broader Church teaching and thinking on the subject.