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Originally Posted by tompe
Well, I was mostly annoyed in this thread by people saying that an action was bad because the author did not get any money. By that standard buying second hand, lending books and minimizing what you pay is bad also.
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The key here is that the author didn't get any money and had no say in the matter about whether he got any money. If he signs a contract with a publisher, then what the publisher and or bookstore sells the book for is a matter that is between the author and them. If one borrows a book from the library or buys it second hand, they are buying the work under legal terms that was understood by the author when he decided to publish his book. In other words, the author has implicitly agreed to all of those uses of his work before he agrees to publish. Downloading illegally is not something the author agreed to when he agrees to publish.
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If people would like to say that an action is bad because it is against the law then they should say that and not try to amplify the opinion by using reasons that does not stand up to scrutiny.
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It only doesn't stand up to scrutiny if you believe that somehow we have an individual responsibility to ensure the author makes a living from his work. We do however have an obligation to ensure that the means we choose to read a book ensure that the author has been at some point compensated for the copy we read.
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Bill