Legal != Moral

I have always been surprised by the number of people brainwashed into believing that legality and morality are one and the same. Here are two quick ways to counteract that myth:

1) There are no moral issues with me watching a DVD movie that I have purchased. None, zero, zilch. Did you know, however, that it is illegal to watch any major studio release on a computer running most non-Windows operating systems? Do you really think that I'm outlaw scum because I've watched Office Space on Ubuntu Linux?

2) So-called 'submarine patents' are legal in the United States, but nobody can rightfully claim that they are an ethical use of the patent system. Patents exist to encourage innovation, but submarine patents do exactly the opposite; they punish companies who innovate and reward 'companies' that are little more than a bunch of lawyers writing and/or buying broad/obvious patents. They wait for the patented techniques to enter widespread use and then sue the pants off everyone that may be in violation.

One last note: Why don't we hold corporations to the same moral standards to which we hold people? Huge companies/cartels buy laws, and then we give their anti-competitive, anti-consumer actions the 'thumbs up' because they aren't violating any of the laws they sponsored (or even wrote). Wrong is wrong, no matter what is written in the United States Code. Microsoft [1, 2], RIAA [3, 4], Samsung [5], and Electronic Arts [6]: are you listening?