The current effectively-infinite length of copyright is brand new, it was only put into place in the 1970s. The original length set in 1790 was 14 years, optionally extendable to 28 years. Under those terms, the first Harry Potter book would have entered the public domain in 2011, or in 2025 at the latest. Copyright should be a balance between the rights of the creator and the rights of the public. Right now it is wildly out of whack, with basically all rights given to the creator in perpetuity. We are robbing ourselves and our future generations of our own culture. In my opinion it is perfectly ethical to ignore it. If we can't fight back legislatively, we will find other means.

P.S. you cannot 'steal' intellectual property. That is a fiction you have bought into.

More on the history of copyright here: https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2020/shrinking...