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Originally Posted by Rich_D
This is where we start getting into the what ifs. An equally persuasive argument could be made that providing a used copy of a book may peak a reader's interest in an author that they wouldn't ordinarily read and generate additional sales from different titles in that author's body of work.
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It may peak the reader's interest, but it is almost certainly going to prevent them from buying a copy of the book you gave them. Lets look at this way, is it ethical to use someone' money to gamble for them without their permission?
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My reasons were much simpler. I wanted to clear up the space the books were occupying and even though I have the capability to produce my own ebook from hard copy, it results in destroying the book. I'm not comfortable with that. I think it is a waste. I replaced my purchased copies (some bought multiple times in multiple formats) with ebooks and was able to pass on my favorites to someone else. I hope they get as much enjoyment from them as I did.
I didn't profit monetarily from the exercise but the publishers and authors may be out a few bucks from the 80 or so titles I downloaded. If they choose to pursue legal action, I'll pay the penalty.
Do I think I was wrong in this course of action? No.
Do some anonymous entities on this message board think I'm a thief? Probably.
Do I care? Not one bit.
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So lets see if we can put this in perspective. You obtained illegally distributed copies of novels you already obtained legally, and then gave away the legal copies since you had obtained the illegal copies. This is correct right? Would you consider it ethical to have purchased illegal hard copies to give them to charity? Or to buy illegal hard copies and then give away your legal copies? Ethically, it seems to me, those two cases are more or less identical to what you have done.
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Bill