LOL

2.  People give a variety of reasons for copying a music CD
from a friend instead of buying it. Refute each of the
reasons given below using one of the theories described.
(You must not use the SAME theory for all)
a. I don’t have enough money to buy it.
b. The retail price is too high. The company is gouging
customers.
c. Since I wouldn’t have bought it anyway, the company
didn’t lose a sale.
d. I’m giving my friend the opportunity to do a good deed.
e. Everyone else is doing it. Why should I be the only person
to buy it when everyone else is getting it for free?
f. This is a drop in the bucket compared to pirates who sell
billions of dollars worth of copied music.
g. This is insignificant compared to the billions of dollars
worth of music being exchanged over the Internet.

3.  I don’t have enough money to buy it (the music CD)
 Kantianism:
 The music industry is a business. Studios like Sony
BMG and EMI music would have created a “product”,
i.e. the music on that CD. Kantian logic dictates, that
the right thing to do is to purchase that CD, because
that is the intellectual property of the record label
and the right way to get that intellectual property is
by exchange of monies between the individual and
the company (via an intermediary)
 If a person does not have money, he should not
circumvent the action and should save up to buy the
CD instead. Copying the CD by this logic is stealing
intellectual property from the record label.

4.  The retail price for it is too high
 Social Contract:
 The retail price may be too high for some, but
some thinks it is reasonable enough considering
there are all sorts of costs involved in producing
and marketing for the said product (the music
CD), and that the product is genuine or original
(i.e. not counterfeit). The producer and the
merchant/vendor need to make profit too
instead of selling at loss. It’s all business. So as
an ethical and responsible consumer, we need to
support them buy buying it instead of copying.

5.  Since I wouldn’t have bought it anyway, the
company didn’t lose a sale.
 Kantianism:
 The fact that you wish to possess that music
contradicts the fact. If it was any other item,
for example; shoes, you would have to
actually purchase the product in order to
own it. By that logic, the fact that you want
to own the songs on that CD obliges you to
purchase the content.

6.  I’m giving my friend the opportunity to do a good
deed.
 Act Utilitarianism:
 This is a lame excuse. You can do a good deed in
many ways, like helping the needy and the poor
and helping your friends with basic needs like
food and shelter or assisting in getting things
done.
 In this case, lending a music CD to a friend
doesn’t constitute a good deed, since you are
only helping your friend in getting what he/she
wants, instead of what he needs.

7.  Everyone else is doing it. Why should I be the
only person to buy it when everyone else is
getting it for free?
 Divine Command Theory:
 “Even if half a million people say a silly
thing, it still remains a silly thing”.
Irrespective of whether or not people are
“pirating” music, at the end of the day, it is
still theft. And theft in any form is wrong.

8.  This is a drop in the bucket compared to pirates who
sell billions of dollars worth of copied music.
 Social Contract Theory:
 Peddlers in night markets selling pirated music are
increasingly becoming a thing of the past, however,
the fact that they have taken intellectual property
which was produced at high cost by the record
company is theft. Reproduction of the intellectual
property in itself incurs a cost, but quality might be
tainted.
 This action is and always will be unethical. It violates
copyright laws and trademarks that are wholly owned
by the record label. It also prevents business from
being carried out completely.

9.  This is insignificant compared to the billions of dollars
worth of music being exchanged over the Internet.
 Rule Utilitarianism:
 While this is true, and the internet has made dissemination of
digital information substantially easier, this does not make it
correct.
 Put simply, prevention of distribution is largely unfeasible
with sites like ThePirateBay, but the actual revenues of music
sales via sites like iTunes far outweighs the actual damage
caused by music piracy.
 Piracy does not mean that support for the musician will die
out. True fans would purchase the music, firstly because the
benefits of purchasing the music far outweighs the cons.
Some of those benefits include better quality of music and
better system security. Some pirated music CD’s may come
with viruses or malware which can mess with the system.