How much time until somebody come and throw the "more rationalizing" angle?
Just asking
Quote:
Originally Posted by roebeet
Amazing how this thread goes on and on and on..... I've barely read 1% of it, so I suspect my feelings have been mentioned by others.
We know the law. And laws are not always adhered to -- we have probably all run a red light or jaywalked in our lifetime. I think the question is what is fair, and what hurts people the least.
First off, DRM stripping purchased ebooks. I think that definitely falls into fair use (even if the law currently says otherwise). The fact that my purchased ebook is crippled in such a way that I cannot read it on another vendor's e-reader, or on a system not supported like Linux, is just appalling. And, even if it's technically against the law, I am not hurting anyone if I strip the DRM for my own personal use only. I find this to be the same as buying a physical book, a radio, a piece of furniture or anything else I own and taking it apart, if I wanted to. If I recall correctly, we had similar laws about recording programs on VCR's but as long as no one was reselling the tapes, it was not pursued. And eventually the laws changed, if memory serves. Lets hope that the law catches up in this area, one day.
Second, downloading ebooks of physical books I already own (especially ones that don't have a vendor ebook format, yet). Again, I am not hurting anyone here except the publishers who want to double dip into my purchase. I feel that publishers should do what the music and movie industries have already done, which is offer an ebook version with every hardcover purchase. Problem solved there. As for ebooks that the publishers don't offer, I'm not hurting sales that don't exist so I don't see the harm there, either. I would love to see legitimate ebooks of out-of-print titles and I do ask for them in places like Amazon, so maybe in the future this will be less of a problem.
Third, downloading ebooks just because I want something for free. I don't see an ethical dilemma there, that's piracy pure and simple. If you want the book badly enough, chalk up the dough for the ebook or the paperback.
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