Is Downloading Foreign Books from the Internet Unethical for Iranians?

Is downloading foreign books from the internet considered an unethical act for Iranians? Given the exorbitant price of the dollar on the one hand, and the lack of accessible and desirable foreign books in libraries, as well as the failure to update foreign books in the country's reference libraries, can one speak of the immorality of such an act? If living ethically requires certain grounds and conditions (in the aforementioned example, desirable conditions could be: desirable accessibility of foreign books, reasonable book prices, and perhaps also a favorable economic situation for students to purchase books), as long as these conditions are not met, it seems that speaking of ethical action (not downloading a book because of the harm caused to the foreign publisher) is hardly relevant. Especially regarding book downloads in Iran, if someone does not download their desired book for free from the internet, the other alternative is most likely to forgo obtaining the book (due to its inaccessibility), and the ignorance or lack of knowledge of one person or perhaps many. According to Singer's utilitarian ethics, which places "equal consideration of interests" at its center, in such a situation, only the interests of the publisher and author are considered, without any value being given to the interests of readers in third-world countries like us Iranians (who are trapped in such a wretched situation).

The result of not downloading books in Iran for ethical reasons will ultimately be: 1. Our lack of access to the book, 2. No profit for the publisher, because even if we do not download the book, the possibility and conditions for purchasing it do not exist, 3. Lack of knowledge and ignorance. And considering Singer's consequentialist ethics, I doubt such an outcome would be ethically acceptable.

Related article: "Internet Ethics" by Peter Singer

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Is downloading foreign books from the internet considered an unethical act for Iranians?

Author: Behnam Khodapanah

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