I don't understand this sadly, common sentiment on HN. How will authors and artists that produce copyrightable artefacts earn income via royalties without strong copyright laws? Are there any highly developed nations that have abandoned copyright? Or any that have weak/non-existent copyright laws and thriving arts and letters? I doubt it.
Found out yesterday that Switzerland has extremely lax laws about copyright. You are actually permitted to pirate movies and shows all you want, as long as you don't share the copyrighted media outright.
The Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property explicitly says:
downloading or streaming works for private use is permitted even when the source is illegal.
What bothers me most is the off-handedness of it all. They pop into the conversation like whack-a-mole a say "end copyright", yet offer no reasonable alternatives. Are we suddenly going to stop paying authors for their artistic works? It is crazy. Copyright laws are fundamental to create thriving creative industries.
