Quote:
Originally Posted by bucsie
I won't argue that downloading ebooks from the dark net is not stealing. I do feel for the authors and the publishers that lose money because of that. But I doubt that the percentage of dark-net readers influence the sales figures of any author to the extent that that writer is or is not signed for new contracts because of piracy.
Having said that, there is a cultural component to this whole darknet piracy. People who would not steal a candy have no qualms when it comes to mp3s. There is little tangibility to a file, it just doesn't feel like stealing.
Culturally speaking, being from an Eastern country where less that 5% of home users have even a legal OS - getting ebooks off the net is really not such a big deal. Everybody does it, nobody cares. Companies like Microsoft, Adobe are bleeding money if one compares software sales to actual users. I got laughed at for buying Vista last year, because I wanted to be legit. But the same people don't steal cars or food or clothes. It's just how they grew up.
So I can see and understand your outrage, but I doubt that you can understand my lack of shame.
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I'm not outraged at all, to be honest. I'm just horribly surprised that people can take items and then pretend that what they did isn’t wrong. I’m not concerned that they did it, I’m not even telling them not to do it. But I am saying that if you claim – like most of us do here – that you love books (and therefore authors) and you decide that the best way for you to obtain books (for whatever reason) is to take them via the darknet – then drop a dollar in the tip jar.
What is super annoying is when people start to manufacture reasons as to why they can’t do even that little piddly amount. If you aren’t paying for your entertainment because you just like to take things, just admit it. No reason to make up stories. And I’m not even talking about file hoarders who never read the books they take, I’m talking about the files you actually do read. It really is the
least you can do.
I completely understand your lack of shame, it’s based upon a theory called
Dumbar’s number - you can find a much more humorous explanation
here (in short: You don’t see the authors as real people so it is easy to dismiss any repercussions that may fall on them because of your actions). The reality is that no man is an island living unto himself. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
That being said – this is a conversation about piracy. We have different viewpoints. Just because I don’t agree with your actions doesn’t mean I don’t like you – I dislike your actions. It also doesn’t mean I don’t understand, I just don’t agree. We are not “arguing,” we are disagreeing and this is the place where we have chosen to do it.