Quote:
Originally Posted by azazel1024
I don't disagree with you.
However, how about if you own the work already in printed form? What is the moral direction on that one getting a "pirated" electronic copy? Its perfectly legal if you were to scan your own paper copy, but not to download the pirated electronic copy. Yes you can argue that there is "value added" in the conversion process, possibly a table of contents added that is linked internally.
However, a lot of the ebook pirated versions are OCR scanned, and occasionally, user corrected for any scanning mistakes. So it isn't value added by the rights holder.
Or even a step futher, what if you already own the printed work, and the publisher/author has not made an electronic version available for sale, but there is a pirated version available?
In either case it is not direct theft. They may lose a(nother) sale in the case of pirating the work electronically whilest already owning the printed work. In the case of not making it available, they don't even lose a sale. You've already paid the rights holder for their work.
I truely am just wondering your thoughts on the morality of either scenario (not the legality, that has been established).
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I absolutely think that once you have paid for the ownership of a property in one form you should get it in all of them. What matters is paying to support the creation, not the actual format. I hate the way big media companies bilk customers with re-releases and remasters and all that other nonsense. I also think anybody should be able to make a digital copy of whatever they've bought so they don't have to take things out one at a time whenever they want to use/view/listen to something. My own work is available DRM free and available for lending b/c I do believe in being reasonable about this.