Why File Swapping should be Legal?

It is not a Crime
There are other ways to make money
File Sharing Does not Hurt Media Sales
Media Organizations hunt File Sharers and Prosecute Them
Put it into Perspective

So why should file swapping be legal? Let's examine the reasons one by one.

It is not a Crime

The primary reason why file swapping should be legal is because it's not a crime, at least not an ethical one. Sites or services that point to where to download the content are just referencing the presence of the information. Referencing or linking is never a crime. It's like instructions on how to prepare bombs, where to find illegal drugs, how to cheat various systems, where to find stolen goods, etc. By itself this information is not a crime to know, because it's protected speech. So does pointing to a copyrighted resource.

So now we're left with the question whether sharing a copyrighted work (or downloading it) is an objectively criminal action. The answer is again "no". It's not a crime since the originator of a copyrighted work that was made public cannot prevent non-commercial copies from being made and distributed. As of today, many countries passed such laws, but these laws are unethical. Sharing of copyrighted work is common-place, and many of the people who do it (including many children) do not feel they're doing something wrong, or feel guilty about it. So it is ethical, and moral and should be legal.

Note that selling copies commercially (as in stores of pirated media), can be prohibited by the copyright holder. But non-commercial copying (from friend to friend, or via Peer-to-Peer services) cannot.