Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Lending seems fine to me, but only when done through a system, such as Amazon's, which enforces both a time limit and the inability of the lender to read the book while the borrower has it.
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I can see why enforcement is of interest to the copyright holder, and why it can be argued that it's required for a generally workable system, but when discussing an individual's ethical position when lending a book surely the thing that really matters is that the lender doesn't actually read the book during the loan, and that the borrower doesn't read it after its returned, not whether or not those restrictions were actually enforced by the system.
You are comfortable with stripping DRM from your books because you trust yourself not do do anything with the stripped books which damages the author. Is it not also ethically acceptable for me to trust myself not to read a book when lending it to a friend whom I trust to delete it when they've finished it?
/JB