ABSTRACT
We are all accustomed to a dogmatic view of copyright, which is more about forbidding certain things than ensuring certain outcomes. For those who promote this view, the idea of allowing people who are neither the authors nor the copyright holders of a piece of work to share it with other individuals is tantamount to heresy. Article 27.2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (quoted earlier) should serve as a reminder that this has not always been the dominant view. To interpret this article in its fullest sense, we must take into account any means of promoting the material and moral interest of the authors of works, not just the control of copies. With this open approach in mind, is it so obviously wrong to transmit or to make available a cultural product in a non-profit way? Just how could this harm culture itself, or those who contribute to it?
