Lending a game is not exactly the same thing as piracy, in that case there is one copy that is being shared. When you pirate something, two people have a copy and can use at the same time in different locations.
>If I deleted my digital copy that I sent to someone, would that be okay?
Ethically I believe this to be equivalent to lending a book/cd/whatever to a friend (this has been done, actually, as a protest/stunt. A guy attempted to sell an mp3 from iTunes on eBay).
>If I download something from someone, am I responsible for verifying the copyright or is it the distributors responsibility?
Distributor, generally. I feel this is similar to receipt of stolen property. In most places you are only liable if you knew it was stolen.
>If someone requests something from my computer, and my computer allows them to have it without my explicit intervention, am I responsible?
Yes, though how responsible you are is debatable. Intent is important but ignorance is rarely a successful defense.
>Am I responsible for distributing a file if someone downloads it after accessing an FTP server I setup using an anonymous account?
Why wouldn't you be?
>What if it required a password?
How is that any different? Or do you mean someone guessed the password?
Of course, most of these answers are just my opinion/speculation. Sometimes the line between "piracy" and "sharing" is blurry which I think is a huge part of the problem. There is (seemingly) no way have one without the other. If I want the ability to lend an ebook to a friend then I must also have the ability to give a copy to my friend. There are some systems in place to attempt to reconcile this, but they are either limited (you can lend it x number of times) or take away some other right (for example, it might take away the right to have a backup copy).
> Yes, though how responsible you are is debatable. Intent is important but ignorance is rarely a successful defense.
Their was no intent. Someone was merely able to gain access to the computer without my expressed knowledge and download a file (hypothetical, of course).
> Why wouldn't you be?
I guess your assuming I've given them explicit access to the FTP server.
> How is that any different? Or do you mean someone guessed the password?
Sorry, I tried to state the conditions. In the previous question it was merely that, I setup an FTP server, I don't password protect it, but I don't publish that the site exists.
So, yes, in the last question: someone guessed the password.
> Of course, most of these answers are just my opinion/speculation. Sometimes the line between "piracy" and "sharing" is blurry which I think is a huge part of the problem.
Agreed, which was the point of the exercise. We infer so much from simple actions. Intention is important, as you mentioned.
