I disagree with the point of the blog post. While it doesn't make sense that we people would charge for air pipes to be dragged to earth from the moon in order to use the smells produced (because of legislation), it is perfectly analogous to what the RIAA and MPAA do when they try to influence legislation to stop pirating. Instead of targeting the root cause of the problem (cost and quality), they chose to legislate away rights (SOPA) on the internet. This is similar to the smells example because instead of allowing you to breath the free air, we are going to make you breath our air because we feel its better. This makes no sense, and is hazardous to not only open enterprise but the freedoms that we have.
Piracy is abuse of open networks and speech right. I don't want a government sufficiently powerful (per the RIAA) to stop it, such powers would would themselves be a serious danger to society.
I suppose that amounts to a freedom to piracy. But that doesn't mean piracy is somehow right, or even intended. It's an injustice, of individuals, persisting in the space needed to maintain a free society.
Nor am I much impressed by the argument that with so many people pirating, it must actually be moral. Probably most of them think it's moral, given that they take their norms from the people around them. And the offenses are largely minor. But I think the steps from principle to copyright are pretty clear, and I don't see how anyone concludes that it's actually right.
It's like littering: no one actually thinks it's okay, but they do it because it's convenient, they won't get caught and it isn't a big deal. The consequences of those calculations are obvious.
