On Legitmacy

Digital content is not inherently free. It is not up to the masses to determine whether or not the creative expression of an individual is free. It is up to the masses to determine how much one should pay for said work of expression. Traditional economic factors of supply and demand play a very indirect role in much of digital distribution (e.g., one needs a digital medium on which to store the content, one needs a computer or some other form of access, and one needs communications gear), so the most significant driver of price can simply be called desire as a function of disposable income. That price is of course arbitrary, and difficult to predict, but one thing is certain: if the creator of such content does not give it to someone for free, and expects to be compensated for it, a price must be paid. The buyer has a simple question to answer: "is that piece of creative expression worth the price being asked of me?" If the answer to that question is "no," the next step in the algorithm should never be "steal it."