Quote:
Originally Posted by Belfaborac
I use the term "own" the way any ordinary person uses it in common parlance - the book, whether paper or bytes, is mine and therefore I can do what I want with it. I can read it, burn/delete it, lend it or give it away. It's really no more complicated than that. We're not talking about mass copying or manufacturing rights here, we're talking about ordinary usage.
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That's the problem, though; you know what you mean when you say "own" and, indeed, at first glance, it seems simple and obvious - we all know what "own" means, don't we?
But it's when you start thinking about it more deeply that the problem arises, because HOW can you "lend" someone an immaterial object such as an e-book? An e-book is not a "thing" that you can pick up and give to someone. The only way to move it from one place to another is to make another copy of it, and that's where the trouble starts.
If you lend someone an e-book, you haven't lent them
your book, you've created another copy, and given them that. Where there was one copy of the book, there are now two. Both you and your friend have a copy of the book. Is that lending at all, in the sense that the word is conventionally used?