Quote:
Originally Posted by pilotbob
Just anecdotal. Or, do you think people uploading books to the darknet are going to the book store and buying copies.
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As others have said, yes, actually I think most people who have scanned and uploaded books have done so with their own copies. I suspect many wanted to have an ebook version of something they had in print, and having done the work of scan, OCR, correct & format, felt that if they shared the file the work would somehow feel more worthwhile. But that's just me-- I have an optimistic view of humanity.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nate the great
The cost of the book is irrelevant to the ethical discussion.
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I think the cost of the book is relevant, because authors get a higher cut for each of those higher-priced books.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tompe
Why do you ignore that in for example the US it does not work this way. Is your opinion that all US libraries should close since they lend books without paying the author?
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US libraries pay the author when they buy the book. Only once, it is true, but they do pay, and each library pays for each copy of the book, which amounts to more purchased copies and hence more money for the author (and the publisher-- there are people at the publisher who do valuable work). I'd prefer to see a system of payments to authors per book loaned, as in the UK, but the authors I know of are still quite happy if they get a good review in
Library Journal or similar-- library sales are not a small part of the market.