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The general public has *never* had any "respect for intellectual property." Sixty years ago, violating IP law was almost impossible for a single individual who didn't own a company. It took either expensive, specialized machinery or incredible social resources. The closest you could get was performing a town play without licensing the content.
The photocopier changed that. The computer changed it more. And the media industries--including books--have been fighting ever since to re-create the scarcity that protected their business model.
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Actually, making unauthorized copies has always been easy since the invention of the printing press, hence the invention of copyright law in the wake of its invention. The solution, as always, has been effective law enforcement-suing the miscreants and tossing the worst ones in the pokey. Knowing the technology is relevant to this end, of course, but merely knowing the various technologies involved doesn't automatically solve the problem.