[tirsales]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

So people are in effect pre-conditioned to avoid petty theft. It's not a moral thing... it's a risk thing.

This could very well be true. Then apply the situation on the darknet: License holders are suing like they get paid for it - and still, there is not that much of a response to this.

All that is left as a security option is tagging products with DRM or access codes or whatever, to chase down individual items after they are taken. Anyone in security will tell you, what you should be doing is preventing items from being taken in the first place. But as long as consumers continue to rail against any security applied to the web, it makes the prospect of selling any digital product difficult at best.

As I was saying: Apply a kind of watermark that is hard to remove. It should be more then sufficient in providing customers with a kind of "I could get caught"-feeling and annoys less then a kind of DRM.

Since my e-books (2 of them, anyway) are on the Darknet, even with their considered-to-be-reasonable prices, I'd say that money isn't really the issue... or, at least, it's only part of the issue. The real issue is Respect.

You well never be "free of the darknet" - just as you will always have a certain amount of theft, drug dealing, etc. No matter how high your security - somebody breaks it.

People who do not respect a creator Darknet their work, in effect letting others take the work for free, a sign of disrespect for the creator.

I disagree. Getting something from the Darknet doesnt always show disrespect to the author. I e.g. got quite some amount of RPG-Rulebooks from the Darknet. Why? I already had them in hard-cover and wanted the e-books as a comfy alternative. This way I can lead a game with only my laptop - which already holds my personal notes, player statistics and stuff.
Of course I would have bought the e-books if they were available - but they are not.
So - where is the disrespect for the original author? I paid him (quite a lot in this case) for his work and I honor his work by playing his system and even winning new customers through the introduction of new players.
I know what you meant - but I still couldnt let it stand

And it's not always about money... it can be about opinions, politics, insults, perceived slights, or even looks... but everyone focuses on money, because the loss to income is considered of paramount importance (and the best way to hurt someone) by many.

I guess it is rarely about hurting the author. If I dislike an author (a company, etc) I boycot him completely. Why should I share his work on the darknet? He could only get a broader fan-base out of this.
Have a look at e.g. Adobe. Do you really think that it was Adobe's loss that you can find their Acrobat-Software on the darknet? Economists have calculated that it was Adobes win - because they managed to attract new customers who learn using this software in a private environment and buy it once they move into a professional one.

I e.g. strongly dislike M$ and everything attached to them. In fact I loath M$. You won't see me downloading M$-stuff from the darknet - instead I use software from other companys and boycott M$.

Okay, some people might get a kick out of "uploading the foes work to the darknet". It's more healthie this way, otherwise they might scratch your car