Yesterday Dutch newsmagazine De Pers published an the article called "Don’t meddle with the right to steal!". Author Jan-Hein Strop fiercely criticizes piracy and the six most common used arguments for the justification of the free downloading of copyrighted content (not illegal in The Netherlands).

In response to the often-heard pro-download arguments that content is too expensive nowadays and not legally available, Strop writes: 

"Taking into account that movies and music are expensive goods in the eye’s of internet users, so what? If a Swiss watch is ‘too expensive’, then that doesn’t give anyone the right to break in at a jeweler, even if he isn’t able to properly secure his store. In the early days, when we wanted to watch Rambo, we rented or bought a video cassette and nobody complained. But because downloading from the internet is ‘free’, our perception of ‘price’ apparently has changed, for it to justify theft. Anybody who feels that something is too expensive, simply should refrain from purchasing it.".

Read Jan-Hein Strop's article in De Pers here (Dutch original) and here (a non-official English translation). Here (Dutch) is the reaction of Dirk Poot, secretary of the board of the Pirate Party Netherlands.

For more arguments for and against and a substantive discussion about the future of copyright in the digital age, see the blog dialogue between FutureofCopyright and Iusmentis here (again, in Dutch).