Quote:
Originally Posted by p3aul
They own the merchandise and they have the right to distribute it as they see fit. Now the way I see it is this. They have a right to do what they want to with what is there own.
This is, I guess the point I was trying to make in another thread, when all I succeeded in doing was alienating everyone.  |
I can see some sense in this argument. But I disagree.
When I had no choice whether or not to accept the DRM restrictions on certain ebooks, I chose not to buy.
Thanks to DRM removal tools, I now have a choice as to whether I accept the DRM restrictions. I think you're arguing that it's not legal and or ethical for me to buy the ebook and yet not accept the DRM restrictions.
No-one's sure whether it's legal or not to do this. I suspect it is legal for personal use.
Whether or not it's legal, I think it's ethical to buy DRMed ebooks and remove the DRM for my own use. The action has no negative impact on anyone - especially not the retailer, publisher and author, who now have made a sale that they would have previously lost.
Going to the more general point, retailers (or manufacturers or creators) are
not allowed to impose
any conditions they like on a sale. There are laws in most countries restricting their ability to impose conditions on the purchaser. In the US, I believe there's the "doctrine of first sale" that applies to books. In the UK there's the "Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts" regulations, and various other consumer protection laws.