Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
Did you maybe miss one point: You are not allowed to profit off a copy?
Using phrases like "a few" illustrates that these laws are not considered "hard and fast" laws, but are basically guidelines designed to allow the law to selectively punish people who are seen to be abusing the system, while allowing others violating the same rules to get off. It's the kind of law you create when you know that you can't possibly punish everyone, but you want to be able to at least punish particular abusers using the legal system, with the idea of discouraging others from being abusers.
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You're only allowed to make a copy for personal use. Which means you can't sell it or even give it away. How could you make a profit then?
It's a kind of law that hasn't been changed since the dawn of humanity
(from when the only real copies were carbon copies).
Also, "a few" depends on the media. Why would I need 10 copies of a book? I only have 1 reader, so I have 2 copies (one on my pc, one on my reader). But there can be good reasons why I have 5 copies of that CD. One copy in the living room, one in the bedroom, 2 for my kids and one in the car. In the end, that's where the judge comes in, to interpret "a few".