Alan Ratcliffe wrote
Education. It's always been possible to hit someone over the head and take what is theirs too, but most choose not to do so because they understand it as being wrong. I like to think that most people will choose to do the right thing if they have the means to do so and understand that it hurts others if they choose the alternate path. Sure, you'll always get your wrong'uns and many youngsters will do something for the thrill at least once, but it's a transient phase for most.
Of course, it doesn't help that the music companies themselves have trivialised music by focusing on the easy-sell stuff and ignoring long term artist development, which has led to most music being a short-term disposable commodity which a corresponding affect on the perception of its value.
So I think a lot of the "amoral" behaviour is down to a simple lack of education in these matters. And if you can create the perception that piracy is "uncool", it will fall away naturally from simple peer pressure.
A problem with... well lots of things really... is that technology moves so quickly and technology is an enabler of so many things.
When I was at school, and even for a while afterwards, there was nobody telling us "don't download" because it was pretty much a non-issue. I would be that most of us would have taken advantage of downloading if we could have, but we couldn't. There weren't commercially available internet connections. There weren't computers in every home. There weren't iPods, the Walkman was even a few years away.
New possibilities always pose new challenges as well. Education, even if we're willing to educate and be educated, is never going to keep pace and so the technological genie gets out of the bottle before education and new laws can cork it.
This, BTW, is why St Godric didn't have to consider IP laws or even copyright. Back then there was no fast, loss-free way of copying so laws and value systems didn't have to take that into consideration. Now we do.
I also find myself thinking often of something Joe Boyd said in his book about the 60s
White Bicycles. People had more time back then. They were poorer in some ways, but they had TIME. People don't have time anymore, so you don't have as many opportunities to have meaningful chats with your youngsters.
(PS: I have no kids and am not a parent, therefore I am an expert on parenting).
