Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
What exactly do you mean when you say "traditionally"? The use of the word "pirate" to describe someone who copies a printed work without the author's permission goes back to at least 1603 (Thomas Dekker's booklet "The Wonderfull Yeare", in which, attacking the common practice of reprinting works without permission, he says "Banish these Word-pirates, (you sacred mistresses of learning) into the gulfe of Barbarisme...")..
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The term was meant for people who copied the works for sale: publishers. If wasn't used for readers who wanted to share the books that they read.