I’ve been thinking about this for a very long time, and I have finally found a spot for it on my blog.

I think most people, if not everyone, reading this have either “illegally” downloaded a book, movie, video game, music, or numerous other things, or are familiar with the concept. For most people, this is either something they do relatively frequently, if not even an everyday occurrence. I wonder though, as Christians, should we be doing this, or is it breaking the 8^th commandment? We are clearly commanded not to steal (Ex 20:15), but is downloading music really stealing? You can make the argument that the laws regarding copyrights and such, are not valid as they are not drafted by Congress, and therefore outside the bounds of our government and null and void. You could also say that the laws prohibit copying for monetary gain, but allow copying if it will be given to friends or other for free. So we may be able to make an argument that legally downloading is completely fine, but what about looking at it from a more personal level. How would we feel if we worked hard on a book, spent a year, and a ton of money on making a movie, or spent a couple years producing a video game, and we are trying to make a living off of it, and someone goes and downloads it? (Sorry for the run on…) Would we be ok with it, or would we want to go and whack them on the head and get our money? I certainly don’t have the answer to the question; I can stand on either side of the fence, though I’m not entirely comfortable on either side.

So I would love to get a good discussion going on this topic. Also would it be ok to do, if I wouldn’t end up spending the money on it no matter what the price?

So to break it up into categories a bit, is it ok to download:

Books?

Movies? (this includes just watching them online, on an “illegitimate” website)

Games?

Music?

TV series?

I can’t really think of any others, though certainly feel free to add some. I’m really looking forward to the discussion.