Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
(Your MP3 example does not fit this situation: Ripping it yourself from the CD you own is not the same as getting it from someone else. If you want to argue that point, scan and OCR the book yourself. And don't send a copy of the e-book to anybody.)
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If I have a CD and I want to rip it to put the music on my DAP, I can do that. Nobody is saying I cannot. Now, lets say my DVD drive is broken so that I cannot rip this CD, would it be an issue if I asked someone who also owns this same CD to rip it and send it to me via the net? IMHO, I think it would not be a problem. It would still come under fair use. I own the CD. I have the software to rip the CD. I just don't have the drive till my new one is here and installed.
Let's take an ebook that someone scanned and is not available for sale. I know legally it is wrong to download it should I get the chance to. But if I download it and then buy it once it became available in an ebook format I can use, would that be morally wrong?
Another issue that is a problem that needs to be sort is the tower of ebable. Let's say I find a legal ebook in PDF but not a format I can use. If I then find a copy on the net in a format I can either convert or use as is, is it OK for me to download this copy and use it as long as I also purchase the PDF copy even though I cannot use the PDF copy? Morally, I'd say it's ok. Legally, it's not. But in this case, the author has been compensated even though an illegal download was performed.
The laws need to be looked at in regards to digital content and changes makde to compensate for digital content. There are a lot of things with digital content that the laws do not take into account. like the situation above. We can make life so much easier if we fix the broken laws such that the user is happy and the content provider(s) get compensated.