Is it a sin to share copyrighted material (music, movies, software) on the internet?
” Answer: The Bible tells us that we are to obey the laws of the government we live under (Romans 13:1-7). That is the key issue at stake here. God commands us to obey the governmental authorities. The only allowance we have for disobeying the authorities is if they demand that we disobey something God has commanded (Acts 5:29). It is not inherently evil to download and share music, movies, etc. However, it is ethically wrong to download and/or share copyrighted music, movies, etc., without the permission of the artist / publisher, which is piracy, because doing so is a violation of the law, and God commands us to obey the law. A few years ago, Napster opened the door to this internet copyright issue. Today there are countless file-sharing programs that enable people to share files with others. Due to lawsuits, many of these programs require a fee for music and movie downloads and restrict the ability to share these downloads with others. The controversy is whether making copies of mus
