Why piracy is a sin

Well before I was a Christian I had a cheeky flip phone that could hold music as well as make phone calls in elementary school. This was before the iPhone 4 was released and such a feat by cellular technology was enough to captivate my young, unaware mind. The only problem was that I had no music of my own to put into my magical brick, nor did I have the money to purchase any songs. So, I did what any child remotely online did: I pirated.

At the time bee123.com (or something similar) was the popular site. After that got taken down, it morphed into some other domain, probably with a similar name and a funny looking logo. I downloaded song after song, loaded them onto my phone, and went around the neighborhood steering my bike with my right hand and holding my phone’s tiny speaker to my ear with the left. As technology evolved, I got a more capable phone, listened to music for free and legally on YouTube, and then eventually got a Spotify subscription. No more pirating needed, for music, at least.

I blame my piracy on my youth; I didn’t understand the ramifications of what I was doing and frankly, I don’t think I would have cared. I believe the phrase is, “Young, dumb, and stupid”. I was surely all three. It wasn’t until I took up music production as a hobby in middle school, which turned into a small side hustle in high school. When I started to sell my own music, the reality of the crime became clear to me. I was stealing other people’s work, even though I didn’t want anyone to steal mine. Worse too, I didn’t have any fancy lawyers to go fight to take illegal uploads of my music like other artists. If someone chose to steal my work and rob me of a fair wage, I could do nothing about it.

With the affordability of streaming platforms like Netflix, Spotify, and YouTube, pirating media is certainly not as common as it once was, but it still goes on. The question we’ll explore is whether or not piracy is a sin and why. And, are there any justified reasons for piracy?

We’ll define ‘sin’ as any action that is strictly prohibited by God, not Christ-like in nature, and results in ‘missing the mark’ of perfection. ‘Piracy’ is the unauthorized copying and distributing of copyrighted works like books, movies, music, and software. This definition comes from the historical ‘maritime piracy’ where pirates would attack ships, steal cargo, and hold crews at ransom (for anyone wondering, this is certainly sinful!). With these terms in place, piracy would be a sin on the basis that it is equivalent to theft in God’s eyes. In the Ten Commandments, stealing is outlawed with the 8th commandment in Exodus 20:15.

You shall not steal.

Jesus affirms that He did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it, resulting in most of the moral teachings of the Old Covenant law staying intact for Christians. However, we should take particular notice when Jesus Himself quotes Old Testament Scripture and Laws. In the case of Exodus 20:15, Jesus affirms the continued enforcement of it when speaking with the rich, young ruler in Mark 10:17-21.

¹⁷ Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” ¹⁸ So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. ¹⁹ You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ” ²⁰ And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.” ²¹ Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”

Jesus’ direct response to the man when he inquired about everlasting life was to follow the law, where He then specifically mentioned prohibitions against adultery, murder, stealing, lying, and defrauding. Now, maybe Jesus mentioned this, because this man in particular was of the Old Covenant and thus, his salvation was dependent on the laws of that covenant. However, it’s what Jesus asks the ruler in Mark 10:21 that signifies the continued validity of the commandments. Jesus says to the man that there is only one thing left for him to do. By this, Jesus is giving him another commandment, that being, to follow sacrifice everything he has and follow Christ. This is in line with Jesus says about fulfilling the law, not abolishing it. If He was seeking to tear down the moral laws of old, He would not have brought them up in this discussion with equal weight to His own instructions. He probably would have skipped over the old commandments altogether and simply asked the ruler to sell everything he has and follow right after the question of eternal life. But He doesn’t. Instead, He affirms the ten commandments and adds on belief in Him to the New Covenant. Given that Christians are under this New Covenant, we are to hold to the ten commandments. Thus, piracy is a sin even for those under Christ.

Now that we know stealing is a sin for Christians as well, what we have to prove now is whether or not privacy is equivalent to stealing. Let’s establish what ‘stealing’ is. Stealing, or theft, would be to take something that does not belong to you without permission from the owner. Ownership would be recognized by two things. First, valid contracts recognized by the governing authorities. Think deeds, wills, and covenants. Second, possession through claim and reason. Imagine a nomadic tribe under no formal government that has fur, meat, and tents. If someone were to find these items, the nomads would claim possession and could reason of their ownership. The Hebrew word used in Exodus 20:15 is גנב which has been translated to mean ‘steal’ or to ‘deceive in order to steal the heart’ (i.e. seducing someone under false pretenses for gain). In almost all of the usages of the word across the Old Testament, the context around it was somebody taking something that was to be taken by them. For example, in Joshua 7:11

Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen (גנב) and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff.

Here, God says in the first sentence that Israel has transgressed their covenant and sinned. In the second sentence, He says why: they stole devoted or accursed items from the spoils of the Battle of Jericho. Had God given the men of Israel the permission to take from the spoils whatever they please, there would be no need of deception or theft. The difference between the taking of the devoted items being a transgression or not is permission. Likewise, modern piracy hinges on the pirate not obtaining permission from the holder of the copyright for the material they are taking for themselves. If they had permission, it wouldn’t be piracy. This is why taking and using material in the public domain or works with a Creative Commons license would not be considered piracy. In the public domain, there is no copyright holder, thus making the material free to the public. With a Creative Commons license, the holder is explicitly granting people the free use of their material without attribution or royalties. Piracy violates the same trust that angered God so deeply in Joshua 7; the guilty party being Achan, a Judahite, took what was not his to take, because there was no expressed permission allowing him or anyone else in Israel to take it. Rather, there was expressed prohibition against taking the items. Similarly, anyone who holds a copyright outside of frameworks like the public domain or Creative Commons license is protecting their work from unauthorized use; they are expressing prohibition against taking it. Piracy is a sin.

There are a handful of different justifications that people make around piracy that all fall flat. Especially the ones where people use the wrong doing of the property holder as justification for violating that holder’s right to their published works. For example, a common argument is:

1. I pay for Netflix.
2. Netflix promised me 4k resolution for my payment.
3. Netflix is not giving me 4k resolution.
4. Thus, I will steal their content.

The argument can be simplified to:

1. I pay X for A and B.
2. X gives me A, but not B.
3. Thus, I will steal B.

The issue with this argumentation is that making the jump to stealing B because X isn’t providing B along with A isn’t a permitted course of action for retribution. The proper way of handling this would be to:

1. Stop doing business with X.
2. Ask X for a refund.
3. Sue X and take them to court.

One immoral act does not justify another immoral act, especially not in God’s eyes. God doesn’t add any caveats when He says, “You shall not steal”. It’s just four words for a reason.

The second common justification that I hear is that the original producer of a given work is no longer selling that work. Thus, stealing would be justified because there is no way of purchasing it. Proponents of this justification will often add that if there was a way of purchasing it, they would do so. The argument goes like this:

1. X makes and sells A.
2. X stops making and selling A.
3. Thus, I will obtain stolen A’s if I can.

God would view it the same as the first: the actions that X takes are within their rights as producers and owners of a given publishable work, so without permission from X, obtaining A would be piracy and thus, theft. Proponents might argue that because X is no longer selling A, that pirating A would not be causing any material harm to X like loss of potential revenue:

1. X stops making and selling A.
2. Obtaining stolen A’s does not cause material harm to X.
3. Thus, obtaining stolen A’s is justified.

This argument assumes that stealing is a sin solely due to material harm. The jump from “not causing material harm” to a justification depends on God’s prohibition on stealing to provide some sort of caveat excusing thieves of their crimes if they could prove no material harm was done. This is not the case. God’s command on not stealing has little to do with material harm and everything to do with permission. In the case of the stolen, devoted items from the Battle of Jericho, no material harm was done against God. Humans in general can’t materially harm God. Yet, God found Israel’s action as a transgression, because they violated a contract. Likewise, if X, being the original owner of A, does not allow any mechanism by which a third party can obtain A with permission, then obtaining A would be theft.

What makes piracy digestible to most people and some Christians, is the lack of consequences and the detachment from realness of the crime. If someone were to walk into their local general store, scan the aisles, grab a snack cake or bottle of water, and walk about, there would be an immediate problem. You’d see the cashier and the store workers from who you’re stealing from. Other patrons might look at you or even take action. Your body, and maybe face, would be recorded by security cameras. Stealing like this feels real and the consequences can be dire. Piracy hides all of this. It makes stealing as simple as clicking a button. No police coming to your door. No eye contact with patrons or workers. It’s easy to swallow and easy to deceive yourself.

I hope that after this brief discussion on the matter from a Christian lense, that you may be better equipped to defend the position against piracy. And, if you were debating whether you should or shouldn’t pirate some song, movie, book, or software, I urge you to reconsider. If you’re a Christian, reconsider on the basis of God’s clear teachings on the matter. If you’re a non-Christian, reconsider on the basis that your internal debate means that you know it’s wrong and you’re simply trying to justify yourselves. In either case, save up the money, purchase that media with honor, and if you can’t, then learn to live without it and enjoy the gifts you have already collected.