Quote:
Originally Posted by BadBilly
You are deliberately misrepresenting Mivo's original point with a specious analogy. Mivo's original point was that many of those who may make unauthorized copies of e-books would not have purchased the e-book. There is no financial harm to the author or publisher because each received exactly the same amount of money they would have had the user not copied the book: zero dollars/pounds/euros/ etc. While the copyright was infringed, there was no harm done. That is the key: no harm done. No moral violation. No person or company was deprived of anything.
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The downloader has taken something they have no right to take --- they have enriched themselves with the fruit of other people's work. That is the moral violation. Just as if an employer doesn't pay a worker --- "I have taken nothing from them, just their time". And if the downloader actually reads the book then they have done actual harm equal to the lost purchase price.
The easy choice is: "you don't want to pay the price, then just read something else". The "wouldn't have purchased the book anyway" is just a red herring, and doesn't really matter. You could use that for anything.