Quote:
Originally Posted by Mivo
The entire concept of "intellectual property" is still a fairly new thing, and it is not undisputed. One could make a case that it is uncivilized to withhold knowledge, e.g. textbooks, from those who cannot afford to pay for it. Numerous textbooks are not available in libraries.
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Why should the owners of intellectual property rights pay for those who cannot afford it? If society does want to do that then the taxpayers should pay for it. Which is what some countries are trying to do by imposing a surcharge on all recordable media. But that only means more power to those who distribute the funds, a lot of waste, and unfairness (usually the well connected get money, not those whose works have actually been downloaded --- besides a lot of people have to pay who never download anything).