Quote:
Originally Posted by sfernald
Removing the DRM is breaking the law though, if that happens to matter. Why not just download it from the darknet and get it for free if you are going to break the law.
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Many might argue that removing the DRM for personal use is morally (or perhaps ethically) OK, albeit illegal in the US. On the other hand, if you just download it from the darknet, no-one in the production chain gets any money. Not the author, nor the editors, nor the type-setters, middlemen, retailer, etc. That seems to me to fail both the legal and the moral tests for OK-ness.
I note that authors who can't make a living at it seem to write far fewer books than those who can write full-time (presumably due to being paid, although there are a few with trust funds to back them up... cough... Larry Niven? cough). So if you like the author's work, it behooves you to make sure that the author gets paid!
Going
for an example...
I note that I once (back in the mid-'90s) tried to buy a copy of a limited-release CD that was long out of stock. Finding it to be completely unavailable, I borrowed a copy and burned one for myself. I then wrote a letter to the band's agent, explaining what I had done and why, and requesting that he tell me how large a check I should send (and to whom) in order to ensure that the band (and agent, and song-writers, and...) all got paid appropriately. After a looooong delay, they eventually told me that the 'right number' to pay all royalties plus the record-label's 'missing profit' would be "around $1.50," but that the paperwork to accept the money would cost them far FAR more. They suggested that I donate $10 to my favorite charity and call it a day.
The agent also said that I was the only person who had ever contacted them wanting to pay for an unauthorized copy. The delay was due to the time it took them first to decide what to do about it, and then to compute (just for grins) what the proper amount would be. They had to take a WAG at the label's proper cut by using typical cost numbers from the industry trade press; the other royalties and fees were exact.
Burning a copy without permission was almost certainly illegal in the US. Trying to pay for it was, it seems to me, morally the right thing to do.
Your mileage may vary.
Xenophon