Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
But, unlike a physical book, the copy of the book in the bookstore isn't the same one that arrives on your PC, and the one on your PC isn't the same one that ends up on your reader. It's the same "data", yes, but not the same physical representation. The magnetic field that stores the 1s and 0s on your disk is not physically transferred to your reading device; an entirely new copy of the data is made.
That's why you need to have a licence that specifies how you're permitted to copy it, because creating copies of it is the only way that you can read it.
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When I buy a physical book from, let's say, Book Depository or Amazon, I don't pick a physical book and have it sent to me. If Schrodinger has taught us anything it's that the book doesn't exist until I open the box. At which point it substantiates and becomes a book.
The same happens with downloaded books. They don't exist until put into a physical form inside of the storage medium.
A licence is just an attempt by the publisher/seller to control the book after the sale. This control is already in place in the copyright laws.