Quote:
Originally Posted by BoldlyDubious
Media files are sold (not licensed) to buyers. When a buyer downloads a media file, her/his own copy of it includes embedded metadata that allow the seller to identify who bought it, and when. Buyers can do whatever they want with their files, such as giving a copy of them to their family; on the other side, they have a responsibility in the consequences of what they do.
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If a buyer can "do whatever they want" with a file that contains the text of a book, then when you say "media files are sold (not licensed)" you're really say that the full copyright is sold. So, and this goes to HarryT's point I think, it then doesn't make sense to talk about "illegal distribution". If I have bought the right to do whatever I like with a file then how can my distributing that file be illegal. As soon as you say that there's a restriction on what I really can do you're back to talking about licensing, you're just arguing about what the terms of the license should be.
I think this is clearer if you consider that a file is not a physical object but an abstract concept represented through a physical object. So comparing the ebook (a file) to a pbook (an object) is not helpful. The comparison to the pbook is more properly the hard-drive or memory chip that the ebook lives on. The ebook itself is the exact set of words (along with some formatting info) of the "book". The problem is we use the word book in two ways - to mean the set of words, and to mean a physical object.