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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lord Zardoz" data-source="post: 5222938" data-attributes="member: 704">I suppose the subject at hand is more an ethical then moral element.  But for now lets put that aside..The one objective fact is that any product that exists as a digital file is entirely non tangible.  Copying a file is not the same as theft because with theft, the original item is no longer in the possession of the person you stole it from.  Copyright infringement is its own thing though.  The I will disagree with you at least in part based on what I see as a hole in your reasoning.  I would say there is a moral component involved (though not an especially large one).My question for you is this:  Do you believe it is morally correct to to use or give away something that is not yours, regardless of any direct harm caused?Lets stipulate that the work that goes into producing a digital item does have value and that those who created it are deserving of reasonable compensation for their effort.  Lets also stipulate for now that the people who create or own the work behind a digital item are entitled to say how it is sold and used and distributed.Regardless of what you think of the pricing of the product, or how it is distributed, it is not your place to decide how the item is sold or distributed.If you take a digital product, be it a song, movie, video game, D&D source book, or comic book, or whatever else it is, and make it available as a .torrent file, you are deciding that your opinion of who should have the product is more important than the wishes of those who should make that decision.Now, I will admit that copyright holders are often a bit screwy in their reasoning.  They inflate any claim of harm resulting from copyright infringement.  They also deny any reasonable concept of fair use.  If you pay for a digital product and let your friends use it, that is hardly wrong.  I would also say that many items that can be represented as digital goods are distributed in ways that just deny reality with respect to their value.  And many of the DRM schemes adopted by game companies are just self defeating.Sharing a DDI account would seem to me to be fair use, up to a point.  Past that point, it becomes something else.  Just because someone happens to think that WotC is made up of a bunch of evil bastards who want to wring every cent from you and are hell bent on ruining your hobby does not give that person the right to distribte WotC products via piracy.And just because someone things that $5.95 a month is too much to pay for an insider account does not give them the right to share an account just to screw WotC out of some cash.END COMMUNICATION</blockquote>

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