Why Copyright Is Unjust Before God

(This is a follow-up to my post on Operation Payback.)

A critical element in God’s justice is whether enforcement is inherently oppressive. There is plenty of precedent in Scripture to answer the question of whether something is oppressive. For example, when the punishment is not proportionate with the crime, the law and/or enforcement is unjust. Hitting a file sharer with thousands of dollars in settlement costs in inherently unjust. If it were hundreds of dollars, it would still be unjust.

The question does not hinge on what value the complainant puts on their losses. The value is calculated by the free market, as it were, not the monopoly market price. If I can buy the song online for 99¢, then it’s value in settlement is 99¢. Scripture does not authorize punitive damages above 20% of value. I won’t bother with court costs because those are entirely fraudulent in every case throughout the West, if we judge by Scripture. The point is current enforcement is entirely unjust.

That’s about as far as anyone has to go to establish the current system is damned in the literal sense. The more substantive issue is the question of digital property: There is no such thing as digital property. To put anything in digital format removes the fundamental element in economic exchange — controlled access.

A live performance of any art can be constrained by limited access. You can put the thing inside a structure and charge admission. If someone wants to record it, you cannot justly stop them. On the other hand, everyone knows the quality of any such “pirate” recording will be poor and of very low value. Cheap devices cannot make quality recordings for simple acoustic reasons. Dragging in a better recording device requires substantial costs and can’t be hidden, so you can charge extra. It still won’t be the same as studio quality, and won’t command the same price.

The question in performance art is not preserving total control, because that is not possible without being unjust. Yes, studio sessions cost lots of money, but if you release any such recording on a common format, you have lost control of it. Don’t make them if you don’t like duplications. Or, you can be reasonable and intelligent and realize people who like your work will voluntarily pay for quality recordings in sufficient numbers for you to make a living. The question is not dollar value artificially derived, but whether you can afford to keep doing the art; that’s how God sees it. You aren’t deprived of your living when people share digital copies of your performances, because if your performances have any market value at all, your fans will cough up to see you live, buy your stuff, and keep you happy.

TV and movies are inherently evil in the first place. The product itself cannot avoid adversely affecting the brains of those who consume them; it cannot be rendered safe. I have zero sympathy for the entire mess. Live theater is fine, but electronic video cannot be made non-hypnotic. There is no valid moral reason for that media. End of discussion.

Books are an obvious safe market. Someone wishing to pirate books will have to put a lot effort into typing or scanning, and it’s not the same. Reading a book is not simply a matter of the information contained in it, but a tactile experience as well. Being able to physically flip back to previous pages in itself is a major factor hard to quantify. People who really like books don’t want to read them on a screen. The technology just is not that good, and it may never be. Books on paper cost more to make, and I assure you folks will pay more get them. The cost of a reader is very high compared to books, and reliability and convenience is not comparable at all. Yet, even where a market exists for the electronic version, it is working quite well. Again, paper books can be shared from person to person without harming the publisher and writer. No one complains about the used book market.

In the background I distinguish between Spirit and Law. I cannot hold the world accountable to spiritual principles, but God’s Laws are binding on anyone still breathing. Pirates and information radicals as activists are discerned according to God’s Laws, as are every government and corporation. I can point out when one is more just than another, even as I refuse to participate for spiritual reasons. It absolutely guaranteed I will eventually run afoul of someone else’s rules, regulations and laws when I faithfully obey the Holy Spirit as read in my convictions. But when I stand before God, their opinions and demands matter not a whit.