Small amounts of online piracy - a boon to society?

Just a quick linking of an article with a reasoned approach to online piracy. I do not support SOPA, but neither am I part of the "everything must be free"-crowd. This article makes the case for the idea that a reasonable amount of online piracy is simply beneficial for both artists and society as a whole, just as lending CDs to friends and used bookstores are. It's rare to find this kind of reasoned thinking. Todays debate climate and net anonymity favors vociferous radicals, shouting at each other on top their lungs, while comfortably ignoring the other sides arguments. "Online piracy is like fouling in basketball. You want to penalise it to prevent it from getting out of control, but any effort to actually eliminate it would be a cure much worse than the disease." http://www.newscientist.com/article/d...