Bestselling author says web piracy is akin to 'reaching into someone's pocket and taking their wallet'
Author Philip Pullman says that piracy takes away the possibility of making a living from writing and making music. Photograph: Sam Frost
Illegal downloading is a kind of "moral squalor" and theft as much as reaching in to someone's pocket and stealing their wallet is theft, the author Philip Pullman will say this week.
In an article for Index on Censorship, Pullman, who is president of the Society of Authors, makes a robust defence of copyright laws. He is withering about internet users who think it is OK to download music or books without paying for them.
"The technical brilliance is so dazzling that people can't see the moral squalor of what they're doing," he writes. "It is outrageous that anyone can steal an artist's work and get away with it. It is theft, as surely as reaching into someone's pocket and taking their wallet is theft."
His article comes after music industry leaders met David Cameron in Downing Street last Thursday where the issue of web piracy was discussed.
Pullman, writer of the His Dark Materials trilogy, says authors and musicians work in poverty and obscurity for years to bring their work to the level "that gives delight to their audiences, and as soon as they achieve that, the possibility of making a living from it is taken away from them".
He concludes: "The principle is simple, and unaltered by technology, science or magic: if we want to enjoy the work that someone does, we should pay for it."
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In an article for Index on Censorship, Pullman, who is president of the Society of Authors, makes a robust defence of copyright laws. He is withering about internet users who think it is OK to download music or books without paying for them.
"The technical brilliance is so dazzling that people can't see the moral squalor of what they're doing," he writes. "It is outrageous that anyone can steal an artist's work and get away with it. It is theft, as surely as reaching into someone's pocket and taking their wallet is theft."
His article comes after music industry leaders met David Cameron in Downing Street last Thursday where the issue of web piracy was discussed.
Pullman, writer of the His Dark Materials trilogy, says authors and musicians work in poverty and obscurity for years to bring their work to the level "that gives delight to their audiences, and as soon as they achieve that, the possibility of making a living from it is taken away from them".
He concludes: "The principle is simple, and unaltered by technology, science or magic: if we want to enjoy the work that someone does, we should pay for it."
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