If you’ve spent any time thinking about how we “own” our books, movies, or music these days, you’ve probably noticed how messy it’s gotten. Back when everything was physical, ownership was simple: you bought a book, it was yours; you bought a DVD, you could watch it whenever you wanted. But with digital media, things aren’t so straightforward. Licenses, DRM, and restrictive contracts have complicated what it even means to “own” something.

This raises a question I’ve been chewing on: from a Catholic perspective, is it actually sinful to break these restrictions if it’s just for personal use? For example, is it wrong to rip a DVD you bought, or strip the DRM from an ebook you paid for, just to make sure you can keep it accessible? At first glance, the answer might seem obvious, but if we want to be honest, we need to dig into what’s really going on here.

The Catholic Lens

The Church is clear that the Seventh Commandment, “Thou shalt not steal”, applies not only to physical property but also to intellectual property [1]. At the same time, Catholic teaching also reminds us that laws and contracts only bind us if they’re just [2]. St. Thomas Aquinas even goes so far as to say that an unjust law “is no law at all, but rather a species of violence” [3].

So the real question isn’t just “what does the law say?” but “does this law actually serve justice and the common good?”

Crime vs. Sin

Here’s where things get interesting: not everything illegal is sinful, and not everything sinful is illegal. Running a red light, for example, is sinful because it endangers lives; it violates justice. But ripping your own DVD to store on a hard drive? That doesn’t deprive the creator of profit, nor does it harm anyone. It might technically be illegal under copyright law, but it doesn’t rise to the level of sin, because it doesn’t violate justice.

The key question is always: does this law protect the common good? If yes, then breaking it is sinful. If not, then breaking it is morally neutral. And if the law itself enforces injustice, think of segregation laws, then breaking it can actually be virtuous.

The Problem with Digital Contracts

Things get even murkier with ebooks and streaming. When you “buy” a Kindle book, you don’t really own it, you’re just renting access under Amazon’s terms, and they can revoke it whenever they want. That’s not a fair exchange, because you’re paying full price without full security of ownership.

So what happens if you strip the DRM or download a backup copy of a book you already paid for? From a Catholic perspective, that’s not theft. You’ve already given the author their due. What you’re doing is simply preserving your access against an unjustly restrictive system [2].

Conclusion

So where does this leave us? Catholics should avoid both extremes: don’t fall into laxity (pirating and sharing without paying is theft, plain and simple), but don’t fall into scrupulosity either (thinking that every technical violation of copyright law is a sin).

If you’ve paid for something, then making sure you can actually use it (whether by ripping, format-shifting, or stripping DRM) is not sinful. Civil law might call it a crime, but before God, what matters is whether justice is upheld.

To borrow Aquinas’ words, laws and contracts that go beyond fairness “are not binding in conscience” [3]. Which means that while we must always avoid theft, we can rest assured that preserving access to what we rightfully purchased is morally safe, and in some cases even a duty, especially when it protects human dignity and access to knowledge.

References

1. Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC] 2401–2409
2. Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC] 2410
3. ST I–II, q. 96, a. 4