[Alan]

Originally Posted by astra_lestat

If DRM was a neccessity to stop piracy then most of books published in LIT format would be out there, on the darknet. However, they are not available on the darknet. Why?

Because those books have been transformed into other formats. Because they are available in other formats (with or without DRM). Because nobody really wants those titles. Because... There is a number of reasons. Format has nothing to do with illegal activity because formats can be changed easily.

Originally Posted by rlauzon

That is not protection.

Of course it is. It is not a 100 % protection, but it is a protection to some level. I lock my car. Sure, that is no 100 % protection, since it can get stolen anyway. But it is a level of protection anyway.

You have incorrectly assumed that the world is Mobipocket. It isn't and the norm is not 4 different devices.

But fictionswise and mobipocket are the major sites for ebooks on the internet. Almost all commercial titles are available on these two sites. So I do indeed correctly assume that these sites will cover more than 90 % of all available ebooks. If you, however, buy at another site that will give you less (for the same money), than you should consider changing the store you order from.

Car's are not ideas. Cars are handled under property laws. Ideas are not property and, so, are handled in part by copyright laws.

If I lease a car, the dealer can specifically tell me what to do or not to do with it, because I do not own it, I have leased it. The same with software. The programmer can tell me, what I am allowed to do with the software, how long I might use it and so on. I do no own the software, I have leased it or rather have bought the right to use it in certain ways. And an author can decide how he will sell his books to me, how I might use them, for how long and how many copies (if any) I am allowed to have or create. If I do not like the terms at which the author is offering his book to me, I will not buy it. Period.

The author then loses his right to complain that people pirate his works electronically.

Interesting. Somebody will not sell me something (for whatever reasons) and then I'm free to steal it? Wow, I think we definitely need more criminal prosecution of copyright violators if this is what most of them really think.

Copyright, unlike property rights, is a government granted right. So, yes, the government decided.

Property laws exist in every country. But still it is not the government that grants you those right. They only govern it, put it in law, write it down, so that there is a basis for some jurisdiction. If I make a contract with you, like selling you my car, then it is not the government, that grants you the right to use your new car. It is me. I'm selling it to you. The government only protects the contract we both agreed to. And the government might decide, that if we both don't agree to specific terms in that contract that then some default rules will apply. That is exactly the situation with the copyright laws. Every copyright holder decides about his own right. Only if they do not want to apply specific rules to their work, the default rules will apply, written down in the copyright laws

The author and publisher are bound by copyright law as well. Once sold, the author and publisher cannot tell anyone what they can/cannot do with the book.

Of course not. Contracts cannot be altered by one party alone. Contracts have to be obeyed by both parties.

Originally Posted by msundman

Why wouldn't I have the natural right to copy a book if the government hasn't taken that right from me (without my consent)?

Without your consent? When you buy a book you agree to be bound by the terms of the contract between you and the seller of the book. If he allows you to copy his work so many times - fine - than you can do it. If he forbids you to copy his work, then you know about this restriction before buying the book. And if you did not want to obey these rules in the first place, than you should not have bought the book.

Or are you finally admitting that the government indeed has decided for the people that the people are better off without their natural rights to copy things (by which I mean that the government has taken that right away from the people, not that it has made it illegal to copy per se)?

No, the government does not restrict in any way the contract between you and the author of the book. He can grant you every right he wants. Or he can restrict the use of his work in any way he wants. You agreed to those terms as you bought the book.

Originally Posted by astra_lestat

Yeah, you are right. It is just sometimes we get self-righteous people here, so full of pro-DRM stuff. They are preaching here, where majority know the real face of DRM and I am tempted to show some facts into their faces

I have seen nobody preaching here. But I asked many times about alternatives. DRM is necessary but certainly not a good solution. Please come up with a better solution. Locking the doors of you house might no be the best way to prevent burglary. Burglars are out there anyway. But so far nobody came up with a better solution - beside Brutus, the dog-like killing machine. And you won't actually recommend to leave the doors of your house open, do you?

Alan