Quote:
Originally Posted by kovidgoyal
You see nothing wrong in profiting from one set of people's work by deceiving another set of people? Really? Then I'm afraid I can think of nothing more to say.
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I see things wrong in deliberately deceiving people for profit. I don't see anything unethical about not overtly telling them that a substantially identical product is available elsewhere for less, or for free.
Bottled water doesn't contain a warning notice that says "this contains the same nutrients that you can get from any kitchen sink." People are expected to know that they're paying for convenience and packaging.
Project Gutenberg is not a new, obscure website; people who don't know that "the classics" are often available for free online, or don't want to go looking to figure out from where, don't deserve any special consideration from people who reformat ebooks for sale.
That said--I'd love ebooks, or rather, all books, to carry ACCURATE copyright information. Not just "Copyright (year) by (publisher)," but "text copyright (year) by (author); this edition's formatting & introductory notes copyrighted (year) by (author/publisher)."
I hate that the same book can have six different copyright dates in its various reprints. Especially for the pre-1963 books, where initial publication date is very relevant to when it'll hit the public domain. And I'd like public domain books to be labeled as having PD text, and claiming copyright on the contents, rather than the layout, to be considered legal fraud.