We should not make use of the labors of others without rewarding them, unless they give us permission to do so. Our human nature as individual-but-social requires that those who produce social goods be adequately rewarded. Computer software and documents, as well as literary and artistic works in more traditional media such as paper, are social goods (if they are good at all), because they can easily be copied and widely distributed. These works are protected by copyrights because our government recognizes the need to reward their creators and so encourage them to continue creating such good works. By guaranteeing to those who created a work the exclusive right to produce it---with the implied opportunity to sell it to make a profit---the law encourages workers and their employers to produce works that people will value enough to pay money for. If we break the copyright law, we are withdrawing the incentive to produce works of this kind---including the work which, by the very act of copying, we show that we value.