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Helen, that's exactly what I see when I talk about the discussions on the forums. Newbies ask the question all the time. BECAUSE of DRM they tend to learn that they can't do it and WHY. They usually understand and very few complain. Most "get" it. But their instinct is to share it.
I don't personally have an issue with family members 'passing' books around. For that matter, if a person wanted to lend a book once and understood and somehow marked it that way, I wouldn't care if it was their friend down the street. Human nature, being what it is, means that people aren't going to remember they lent it once. Or twice. Or three times. And if they don't think twice about it, then that one book, if it's well-liked, is suddenly "lent" or given away...just as you describe.
And it isn't that authors are mean or greedy. Whether we are traditionally published or indie published we make very little per copy. And we need to eat every day. So even if we have a great month or two, it turns out we want to eat on month three as well.
Most writers have more than one job. I don't expect the reader to know or care about that fact, but the DRM does seem to keep the accidental lending and sharing down a bit. Because for a lot of writers, if we don't make enough money at it, we can't keep writing. Some of my very favorite writers stopped writing because there really are more financially rewarding careers.
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