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No no no.
I'm not saying that we can't call it illegal. I'm just stating that if we're going to call it illegal, let's make certain we're not doing things that is also illegal. Two wrongs don't make a right. I'm not justifying my actions, but I am saying that people committing illegal acts while chastising others for committing illegal acts is kind of silly. And it all comes down to a matter of conveience. For example, legally, in the US and other countries (I don't know if Switzerland is one such place, which is where mobileread.com is registered), the act of shifting formats is illegal without permission. It's producing a derivative work. Yet this site has and promotes software to do it all day long. It's commonly used. HECK, Baen even recently used it to convert from one format into another. A major company is technically violating the law.
But.. that's because it's a matter of convenience. Like I said, what we are facing is a situation where convenience is intersecting with availability. I didn't say people are RIGHT for breaking the law. I did say that people who live in glass houses should watch how they throw the stones.
As for George Orwell, and 1984.. the book (and all his books) exit copyright in the European Union in 2020. That includes Switzerland. In the US, it expires in 2047. It is illegal to have it on this site, because this site is registered in Switzerland. If it's black and white, then the answer is anyone who downloaded that or any other George Orwell book here is a criminal.
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