IMHO, computer-related issues that involve an ethical dilemma are
worthy of discussion among laymen and computer specialists alike.
Particularly such discussions among computer-related specialists should be
pursued because computer applications are almost ubiquitous in our urban
lives (and will continue to pervade our environment, even as part of our
clothes, and our very bodies.) So yeah ethics should be important for
computer specialists, students and teachers.

     Another field that has dropped its interest in the ethical questions
arising from its practice, ie, the mass media, has reached untold lows in
its complete disregard for any responsible behavior towards its end users.

We don't want to see this happen in the field of computer science and its
applications. At worst, these ethical discussions can't hurt.

     Now regarding the question of downloads, I've missed the thread, but I
wish to express that the intellectual property issue is mostly a hoax, and a
falacious concept that serves only to maximize the profits of the
entertainment industries.

     Many aesthetes and philosophers (Popper, Foucault, Barthes, Jung,
Althussere &c.) have pointed out that ideas (which translate into popular
culture) arise from clichés, archetypes and memes that are shared throughout
our culture, and have been circulating and roaming around our collective
cultural consciousness for centuries. These ideas are simply the recycled
riffs, proverbs, motifs, themes, folk tales and poetry, melodies, hopes and
fear, and indeed the entirety of human experience since the beginning of
history.

     Moreover, I also would like to note that once you issue a song or a
poem, it is no longer yours. It is released into popular consciousness.

     The notion of royalties is laughable really.

     As to the ethics of intellectual property, well it is again my personal
opinion that popular artists are overrated, their wages are overrated
(especially now that art and culture have been on the decline in quality for
over two decades,) and the videos, books, dvds, and cds are overpriced by
the entertainment industry.

     I believe that true artists do wish that their art be shared by all,
and for free. A musician's living would be more rightfully earned from live
gigs, session work wages, contracts with distributors etc. But this concept
of royalties is a cheat at best.

     Having said all this, I encourage others to use Napster (while it is
still free,) and to use Gnutella when Napster caves in to corporate lustre.