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Fastolfe · 12-19-2010, 06:07 PM

As a reasonably educated person, I tend not to take dura lex, sed lex litterally. People who do and follow the law blindly can become bastards when bastardly laws are passed.

When I have to follow a rule or a law, I want to understand why that law or rule exists, and I will follow it only if I can detect some sense some sort of logic to justify its existence, and also a sense of fairness. Since I'm not a lawyer, many laws make little sense to me, but usually I still have a feeling that whoever proposed the law did it for honest reasons, with the common good in mind - after all, laws are there to allow individuals to function in society and prevent them from making one another miserable.

As a result, my personal morals and my limited understanding of the laws I have to follow as an individual in society make me agree with, or at least accept, and more importantly follow 99% of them.

But certain laws are completely stupid, and others have lobbying, big business corruption and unfairness written all over them. The DMCA is one of them. These laws, I sit on them, and I follow my own morals instead.

In the case of ebooks, my own morals dictate that:

- I can buy a freely readable file with no strings attached, that I'm sure will be readable without hassle, and readable 20 years from now (fair to me),
- that the author be paid for his hard work (fair to him),
- that whatever copy of a book I bought remains the only copy (fair to the author).

Therefore, if I can find a legit DRM-free copy of an ebook, even more expensive, I will buy it. If I can't, I will un-DRM a DRM'ed copy, keep the DRM-free copy and junk the DRM'ed copy. If I can't even buy the DRM'ed copy because I'm in the wrong country or something, I will download an illegal copy and I will pay the author personally the full price of the book as sold in libraries (up to him to pay his publisher's share directly, following his own personal morals I suppose). If I can't even download an illegal copy, I will buy the paper book and I will scan it.

And then, I will keep those books for myself. No sharing. I'm not sitting on DRM to save money, I'm doing it to truly own what I paid for, with my own definition of "owning", not the subtle twisted BS edicted in copyright laws that are there mostly to push publishers' agendas.

12-19-2010, 06:07 PM	#43
Fastolfe Bookworm Posts: 98 Karma: 55796 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: Sony PRS-650	As a reasonably educated person, I tend not to take dura lex, sed lex litterally. People who do and follow the law blindly can become bastards when bastardly laws are passed. When I have to follow a rule or a law, I want to understand why that law or rule exists, and I will follow it only if I can detect some sense some sort of logic to justify its existence, and also a sense of fairness. Since I'm not a lawyer, many laws make little sense to me, but usually I still have a feeling that whoever proposed the law did it for honest reasons, with the common good in mind - after all, laws are there to allow individuals to function in society and prevent them from making one another miserable. As a result, my personal morals and my limited understanding of the laws I have to follow as an individual in society make me agree with, or at least accept, and more importantly follow 99% of them. But certain laws are completely stupid, and others have lobbying, big business corruption and unfairness written all over them. The DMCA is one of them. These laws, I sit on them, and I follow my own morals instead. In the case of ebooks, my own morals dictate that: - I can buy a freely readable file with no strings attached, that I'm sure will be readable without hassle, and readable 20 years from now (fair to me), - that the author be paid for his hard work (fair to him), - that whatever copy of a book I bought remains the only copy (fair to the author). Therefore, if I can find a legit DRM-free copy of an ebook, even more expensive, I will buy it. If I can't, I will un-DRM a DRM'ed copy, keep the DRM-free copy and junk the DRM'ed copy. If I can't even buy the DRM'ed copy because I'm in the wrong country or something, I will download an illegal copy and I will pay the author personally the full price of the book as sold in libraries (up to him to pay his publisher's share directly, following his own personal morals I suppose). If I can't even download an illegal copy, I will buy the paper book and I will scan it. And then, I will keep those books for myself. No sharing. I'm not sitting on DRM to save money, I'm doing it to truly own what I paid for, with my own definition of "owning", not the subtle twisted BS edicted in copyright laws that are there mostly to push publishers' agendas. Last edited by Fastolfe; 12-20-2010 at 01:57 AM.