Quote:
Originally Posted by RobertDDL
I'm not arguing, just posing a question.
I have a newly found favorite author (Jane Gaskell). All her books have long been out of print, long before the age of the e-book. So, I have to buy them used. Some of them I got for almost nothing, some of them for more than a new book would cost, but still affordable. Of one (The Shiny Narrow Grin), the cheapest copy I could find cost $350, plus shipping. While looking (in vain) for a less expensive copy, I unexpectedly came across a pirated one, to be downloaded freely.
Now, seriously, if the $350 went to the author, in her case I'd even be willing to pay them, but as it is, she wouldn't see one cent of it. I'd still be willing, in the absence of a proper e-book edition to buy, to buy a used pbook copy for a reasonable price, both for moral reasons and because this pirated copy (which I have downloaded) ignores the italics.
But $350?
So, where are we here on the "stealing" issue?
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It is definitely still stealing. That is just a simple factoid.
That being said, I can definitely hear why it could be a reasonable and understandable resolution. I would have to say, like darryl, that in such a case I would be lying if I said I wouldn't
do it be really tempted.
I think it is important that even if one does, ultimately, end up pirating books, they should keep in mind that it is indisputably wrong.
It does happen that people do the wrong thing. No one is perfect.
But if you do it and consider it totally all right, then you are well along a slippery slope, where you can justify all kinds of piracy when really it's just easier.
Really, that is what set me off. The unashamed midset that there is nothing whatsoever wrong, eyebrow-raising, or out of the ordinary in any way shape or form with pirating an ebook for internally-justified reasons.
And then bragging about it on a public forum that has an official no-piracy rule.