Quote:
Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan
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However, we all know that the torrents are being created with stolen works (including mine) and downloaded by others, which means works of mine are being downloaded within those torrents. As I am not being paid for those works, that constitutes stealing my work. Q.E.D.
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Steve, I think you're missing an aspect of the situation...
The fact is, until the ebook is
actually read by someone, it's not a book. After being downloaded, it's just a file occupying space on an HD.
If you, hypothetically, illicitly download an mp3 file, you're not downloading
music unless you actually
play it. You're dowloading bytes. The act of playing the file
transubstantiate it in
music (or, generically,
content). And that's the moment where the "stealing" takes place. If you get the file, and you don't play it, you're not getting music at all, so you're not stealing anything from anybody....
OTOH, if you steal a paper book, you're actually stealing it. You're stealing the paper and the ink it's made of. And it has a material value on its own. And you've stolen it even if you don't read it....
In this case, btw, it's the reseller or the publisher who's generically considered to be stolen from, not the author.
Another thing, just out of curiosity:
When you found copies of files containing the text of your works, did you open the them? It could be just some files named after your novels...