[Alan]

Originally Posted by msundman

Second, when I buy a book I don't draw up a contract.

Of course you do. Every time you buy something there is a contract between you and the seller. Every time you buy your groceries there is a contract between you and the supermarket. It might no be in writing, but it is certainly a verbal contract.

When I get a book from the library I don't draw up a contract

There is a contract between the author/publisher of a book and the library. As a user of a library you agreed to be bound by certain terms, including copyright. Copyright is either given by the author on specific terms or by default in the law.

When I buy a used book at a 2nd-hand store I don't draw up a contract.

You inherit the terms on which the author released his work to the public. By buying and reading the book you agree to the terms, given on the front pages of each book (where it talks about copyright). If you don't like it, don't buy or read it.

If I pick up a pamphlet from the bus seat next to me I have not agreed to any contract with the maker of that pamphlet. Yet I don't have the right to make copies of that pamphlet as I see fit. Why? Because the government has decided I'm better off without this natural right of mine.

The government only decided about default rules that would apply to that pamphlet. If the author of that pamphlet grants you other rights (more or less), he can freely do so. On many pamphlets (especially about religious topics) you will find a note saying you are free to copy this as often as you want. On press releases you sometimes find a note saying you can use that text in other publications but specimen copies to the original author are required.

So again, the author of any work is free to apply whatever rules to his work he wants.

I answered. It certainly is neither. I did that.

You came up with an answer like: Make cars cost less and they won't be stolen anymore. That is an alternative. My fault. I should have asked for a reasonable alternative.

Alan