Quote:
Originally Posted by stonetools
Correct . I would add that to "share" a digital file you MUST make a copy. When people talk about lending or giving away an ebook what they really mean is making a copy of the file and transferring it to someone else
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You don't have to make a copy to share an ebook. You could download your purchase onto a memory card, and loan the memory card to other people. Could download a purchased ebook onto a library computer--the library could collect quite a few ebooks that way, bought by different users and left for others to read when they're done. You can loan a Kindle or a Kobo--except that the TOS for those sites say that you can't loan the ebooks at all, even without making a copy.
Often, when someone talks about sharing an ebook, they mean making a copy--but that doesn't mean it's reasonable that publishers and bookstores have attempted to make it impossible or illegal to share without copying. Some of the copy-sharing is from the lack of legitimate ways to share ebooks the way pbooks have always been shared: "I'm done with the one I bought; I'll leave it here so you can read it."