[latepaul]

Originally Posted by artbatista

There's no morality involved, except that publishers would like to delude themselves into thinking they are "licensing" a book to me.

They are. They're not selling you the copyright. They're not selling you a physical object - so what else are they doing?

I could see that, if "licensing" the book was a fraction of purchasing, but it's not, and I find it morally reprehensible that they attempt to steal from their customers.

Stealing is taking something you don't own without permission. They're not doing that. They may be charging more than you feel is reasonable, that's fine don't pay.

All this regional restriction crap is just another facet of their unbridled avarice.

I'm not sure avarice applies to companies. As someone else said it's not a moral thing it's business. In a capitalist society we want companies to make as much money as possible. I certainly want the company I work for to do well. I really want the companies my pension fund invests in to do well. If I discovered that they had an opportunity to make more money - legally - but chose not to because they didn't want to be "greedy" I'd be disappointed about that.

Which is not to say that I'm in favour of what the publishers are doing necessarily but it's like blaming a fish for swimming. Trying to make money is what they do.