Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
No, clearly, you're not, if you're downloading stuff from pirates.
An e-book is still a distinct product, as separate from a printed book as a hardback is separate from a paperback, and a CD is separate from a cassette tape. You have no right to take one because you already own the other. You can legally make a copy from the material you own, for yourself, and only you, to use. That's as far as legality goes.
You are "justified" to make a copy from the material you own, for yourself, in another format. You are not "justified" to take someone else's copy, any more than you are justified to walk into a bookstore and steal a paperback because you already own the hardback. You are also not "justified" to take your copy and give it to others without compensating the original creator/publisher (which, based on your comments, I suppose we can assume you do).
Just because it's easy, doesn't make it right, or "justified." What part of this isn't sinking in?
|
Here is what isn't sinking in- take 2 files, both .chm files containing content from a paper book, both with the same name, content, and date stamp. I created one, I downloaded the other. Assume I delete one of the copies, and can't remember which one I currently possess, the one I created or the one downloaded from the net- am I breaking the law? Prove I own an "illegal copy". What is your evidence- the file whose source cannot be determined? Now, is my argument starting to sink in?
We are talking licensing here- if I own a paper book, I have already paid for the content. If I can rip a music cd, seems I should be able to rip a book. And if I rip a book thjat I own and my file cannot be distinguished from a "pirated" file available on the net, well, has any wrongdoinmg been committed?
If publisher's think most consumers are going to buy separate copies of books so they can be read on their readers, they are wrong. What's the next step in restrictive licensing- buying 2 paper copies of the book, so that one can be read on days Mon-Fri, and the other only on the weekends? The key factor here is that an ebook costs almost ZERO to produce- why should people have to pay for ebook content that they have already paid one time for?