I have a confession to make: sometimes, when I figure out how to do something a cheaper way, I start to feel a little, well, guilty. For example, back in the late 90s and early aughts (aka when dinosaurs ruled the earth), there was a litte music-sharing program called Napster. I'll admit, I dabbled in downloading free songs, but it didn't sit well with me. Because of that uneasiness, I estimate that I've probably
stolen, er,
pirated, er, "music-shared" fewer than thirty songs in my entire life.
In my mind, my basic thinking on the issue is that since I've always wanted a career in the arts, to take other people's intellectual property without compensating them for it is unethical.
I bring this up because because recently, the New York Times has recently decided that it's going to start "trying" to charge people for accessing its stories online, and that also didn't sit well with me.
