Quote:
Originally Posted by tompe
Well, you said previously that it was morally OK if you scanned the book yourself. But here you seem to contradict that or? What I do not get is the difference between doing the scan yourself or just copying your friends scan.
The laws i am referring to are the same laws that makes it legal to copy a music CD and give it to friends and family. And you cannot say that you have thousands of friends and use that law.
|
Not really contradicting myself here. I realize that the actual act of creating an e-book, or obtaining the copy of an e-book that someone else made, has little inherent difference. The difference is in the fact that, when the person who made the e-book gave it to you, they violated the understanding of "fair use" (as we apply it in the U.S., that is). By the same token, if you made an e-book, you should not give it to anyone else, or you are violating "fair use."
Even in the U.S., "fair use" dictates that I am not to make a copy of a CD and give it to a single friend or family member. In practice, the law turns a blind eye if I do this, because in most cases I will not give away enough of their revenue in CDs to be worth the cost of their chasing down. Make no mistake, though, even if they don't choose to come after me, I'm still guilty.
But when I start distributing hundreds or thousands of a CD, they take notice, and take action, because I am costing them a significant amount of money, and it's worth their while at that point to prosecute me.
For me, yes, I could make a copy of a CD for my brother, if I knew he liked it. But I would rather buy him the CD, or tell him where to buy it. I consider that fair to the creators of the work.