[garfij]

Following the example from the original comment, I would argue that if the content is otherwise unavailable for purchase or rent, then yes, it is ethical for anyone and everyone to pirate it.

Conversely it is unethical to retain the rights to shared cultural artifacts and _not_ provide a way for people to access them.

I'm papering over some grey area where if it's not available for purchase but you could get it from the library, maybe via inter-library loan, then maybe in aggregate it's better ethically to do that.