Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
I'm not talking about what I do or don't believe. I'm talking about whether or not lending someone a physical object (a printed book) can be equated to giving someone a copy of a digital one. I would respectfully submit that they are two very different acts, and that giving someone a copy of a digital item is what has conventionally been described as "piracy".
|
Unfortunately that too is
what you believe -- and the opinion of many is, you are wrong.
It is all about the end result. If I keep a backup of all my ebooks, and lend someone else a copy of the ebook while scrupulously not reading it myself, it is no different than lending the ebook and deleting my copy (inexplicably, you seem to be okay with this) ... except that my capacity for redundant backup is greater.
No one is buying the book once and distributing to the masses, or even to a handful of people -- it is a loan to person I trust, done with my own personal standard of honesty that you feel is unworthy.
Furthermore, Amazon grants me the right to share my library with one other person in an unconditional manner, and both of us can additionally share with anyone logged into our accounts (family
) -- is that a copyright violation? Oh wait, I don't evn have to break DRM because the vendor systems enable it!