Do you pirate books and why?

[xg4bx]

once in awhile.

most times i'm simply format shifting, other times i'm just unsure about an author or genre.

i buy plenty of books, both in physical and e forms, its not like i just wait for something to hit the interwebs and contribute nothing to the industry.

[WT Sharpe]

Just above every public poll, this statement is plainly visible before your vote is cast: "Be advised that this is a public poll: other users can see the choice(s) you selected." If it makes a difference to you whether the poll results are public or private, please, for your own sake, look at the poll before you answer!

This is a perfectly proper poll, and no one need complain after the fact.

[Catlady]

What does "pirate books" mean?

Stripping DRM for personal use? Format shifting for personal use? Keeping library books past the deadline? Sharing with a friend or family member? Downloading from file sharing sites? Uploading to file sharing sites?

I can't answer when I don't know what the question means.

[bgalbrecht]

My suspicion is that most people who voted no actually are like the Captain of the HMS Pinafore:
Chorus: What, never?
Captain: No, never!
Chorus: What, never?
Captain: Hardly ever!

[HarleyB]

Originally Posted by Catlady

What does "pirate books" mean?

Stripping DRM for personal use? Format shifting for personal use? Keeping library books past the deadline? Sharing with a friend or family member? Downloading from file sharing sites? Uploading to file sharing sites?

I can't answer when I don't know what the question means.

My thoughts exactly.
I strip DRM from all my legally purchased books. I started doing this when it looked like Borders were going to go belly up and I didn't know what would happen to my books. Since then I have purchased the occasional book from Amazon and so I format shift those as well.

Does that mean every book I "own" is pirated?

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

This is a perfectly proper poll, and no one need complain after the fact.

Perhaps, but I appreciated the OP's making the public visibility of the poll more apparent in large text in the initial post. Originally, it began with the phrase "I don't like piracy" and didn't mention the lack of anonymity, which is why some of us wondered about the motivation of the poll.

I think it would be wrong to characterize responses as unreasonable in light of the first post's original content. I say this purely to vindicate myself and others in the eyes of those who might encounter the poll since two key edits and wonder what we were on about. And for the record, I did allow for the possible innocence of the OP's motivation, not being in their head or privy to their private thoughts.

But as you say, this becomes less relevant after the fact. I would add that someone who really wanted to entrap mobileread users who were guilty of piracy would certainly not need this poll or be hindered by the low-level anonymity of another.

[tubemonkey]

Since my reading consists of public domain, library books, free stuff, and an occasional $1 Kindle offer, I have no need to pirate books.

[sbroome]

Originally Posted by HarleyB

My thoughts exactly.
I strip DRM from all my legally purchased books. I started doing this when it looked like Borders were going to go belly up and I didn't know what would happen to my books. Since then I have purchased the occasional book from Amazon and so I format shift those as well.

Does that mean every book I "own" is pirated?

No. You paid for the content, the only issue left is formatting which is a non-issue. That's not pirating to me.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by HarryT

There would be only one set of circumstances in which I'd consider it ethically justifiable to pirate a book:

1. If no commercial eBook was available.

and:

2. I'd bought the paper book.

In those circumstances, I'd have no qualms about downloading a pirated eBook. However, if a commercial eBook did then become commercially available, I'd buy it.

So I'd have to answer "on occasions". Very rare occasions.

Ditto.

[Denko]

I voted yes, and for several reasons;
- I already bought the book, I'm not paying again for it just to have it on my kindle.
- The book just isn't available digitally (Dutch dictionary for instance)
- The E-book was cheaper in Epub form then it was on amazon.com, so i buy it somewhere else, convert it (and remove DRM) and sideload it onto the kindle (for some reason that's considered "piracy" aswell)

The rest i download normally, it's just to handy not to with the whole 1 click system.

Just to make it clear. I could download all the books i would ever want or need for free and still be perfectly legal. (Dutch law) I choose however to buy the most of my books.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

I think it would be wrong to characterize responses as unreasonable in light of the first post's original content. I say this purely to vindicate myself and others in the eyes of those who might encounter the poll since two key edits and wonder what we were on about. And for the record, I did allow for the possible innocence of the OP's motivation, not being in their head or privy to their private thoughts.

This, plus the forum software notice is TINY. I didn't see it at first, and I have 20/20 happy-LASIK vision.

[Asawi]

O voted "once in a while". I can't recall actually having done it (yet), but I admit to having tried. A couple of books I desperately wanted as eBooks but couldn't find anywhere legal. Turned I couldn't find them pirated either, at least nowhere where I was comfortable downloading them... I had to resort to checking out paper books from the library. How inconvenient!

[howyoudoin]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Several people have asked you why and you have afaik not answered. I will ask you again: why did you post a poll that could have conceivable legal repercussions and/or revocation of Mobile Read posting privileges (given that MR has a strong anti-piracy stance), deliberately make the poll not-anonymous, and then choose to not give clear warning beyond what the forum software provides?

He's done nothing wrong. The warning is there as clear as day. Who provided the warning is irrelevant.

[nonobjective]

Originally Posted by HarleyB

My thoughts exactly.
I strip DRM from all my legally purchased books. I started doing this when it looked like Borders were going to go belly up and I didn't know what would happen to my books. Since then I have purchased the occasional book from Amazon and so I format shift those as well.

Does that mean every book I "own" is pirated?

I wouldn't think so, but to many the issue of piracy isn't entirely about money - it is also about asserting control. Not in some bigbrothery sort of nefarious control. More of a supply chain IP sort of contol. Buying anything DRM is more akin to renting the digital item. We will let you borrow it until the day you die as long as you store it where and how our DRM schema specifies.

Had there been the technology to make it impossible to read a paper book purchased at Borders within a Barnes and Noble, or vice versa, don't think for a second they wouldn't have at least considered imposing that sort of content restriction for one purpose or another.

That being said, I personally don't have a problem with my purchased content containing DRM. I currently only read on my kindles and I can move them around easily in that ecosystem. I'm not offended, as some are at the very existence of DRM in my files. I only care when it affects my ability to read that which is still my property.

[WT Sharpe]

To me, DRM removal and piracy are entirely separate matters. Sure, to pirate a book, the DRM most be removed before it is uploaded, but most people simply remove the DRM from books they bought because they want to insure their purchases will still be readable in the future should ereaders develop new formats that aren't backwards-compatible, or should the company from which they bought their reader go belly-up. While MobileRead has a strictly enforced policy that prevents members from detailing how to remove DRM or from linking from sites that do; as far as I'm concerned, people have a perfect right to remove DRM from books for their own use. I'm against piracy on ethical grounds, but I have no problem whatsoever with DRM removal.