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Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic
Why is it that in some countries (highly civilized countries, I may add) there is no breaking of the law involved when a private individual downloads content that might infringe copyright?
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In Canada, there is, of course, the fee paid to music copyright holders when you buy blank media:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadia...ing_Collective
But, if the above link is correct, authors, and both book and software publishers, get nothing from that fund. And, as far as I can tell, the Canadian free pass on some downloading does not apply to books. So, if Canada is typical of the high civilized countries you are thinking of, this may not apply to the thread.
When an author writes a book, and a publisher releases it, there is an implicit social contract that their intellectual property will be protected in roughly the manner prescribed by law. The author couldn't reasonably think that there will be zero shoplifting and piracy. But there's a reasonable expectation that some effort will be made to keep down the rate at which books are appropriated contrary to copyright, especially in the more prosperous nations, and especially in the country the book is published in.
Compare this to the situation where paper books are borrowed and sold. The author, when writing the book, had no expectation this would be restricted, so there's no unfairness involved.
Legislatures could fairly pass a law stating that, going forward, all new eBooks can be freely pirated. While fair, I don't think it would be kind to authors, and editors, and the families they support. And I think it would harm me as a reader.
Quote:
Originally Posted by samy2
Everytime i read here something like BREIN or other think there is a other way fighting against piracy other than better prices ...
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Suppose my boss tells me he isn't planning to pay me for the work I did last week. But if I agree to charge what he calls "better prices" for my labor, he might pay me next week.
Putting aside my emotions concerning the boss, it's just not rational to think my boss is going to pay me that "better" wage. If I am willing to work for zero wages, the official price of my labor becomes irrelevant. We as thrifty readers are that boss. Personally, if I was allowed, in all senses of the word, to download a book for free, I wouldn't download it for $10, or $5, or $1, or one cent.
Quote:
Originally Posted by samy2
All of my life a bought used paperback books. So the authors and others does not get a penny.
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A mistake. More used cars, or books, sold means higher resale value. Higher resale value and used item cost means publishers can charge more for the new item.