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Plus, there are lots of ways to enjoy without paying that are not piracy at all. I have a key to my mother's apartment, and whenever she is out of town, she tells me I am welcome to come over and use the condo gym, watch premium cable on her television (I do not have cable myself) and have myself a little spa day. Yes, okay, SHE has paid for the cable and the swimming pool, so somebody got money for my use. But I am accessing entertainments for free that others have to pay for.
Similarly, nobody in my family has bought any tools for about 60 years because my grandfather is a tool freak and has every took known to man. I wonder how many sales the tool industry lost over the years from relatives of mine who might otherwise have had to buy them?
I use common sense, myself. I won't download a book I did not pay for, unless it is offered for free (i.e. I do not download pirated copies). But in principle, I have no issues with sharing my liberated, purchased books with my mom or sister or whomever because it it was a print book, I would be able to do this no problem (and have in the past) and this is not illegal or immoral. So loaning an ebook, to me, is the same thing. It would be different, I guess, if Mom keeps them forever. But she doesn't, she reads it once and then deletes it. Actually, she calls ME over to delete it since she does not know how to operate her computer with confidence. So to me, this is the same as saying 'here is my paperback copy of the new Nora Roberts, let me know when you are done and I will come over and take it back again.'
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