Quote:
Originally Posted by DiapDealer
I don't differentiate (RE morality) between DRM removal of "purchased" books vs "library" books.The potential for abuse is equal in my eyes. It all boils down to the ethics of the individual doing it. If I believe that people can strip DRM from their "purchased" books and not share them with thousands of their close internet friends, then I trust that some people are capable of honoring the terms of a library loan--even if they remove DRM for the purpose of format-shifting.
I firmly believe that the removal of DRM from personal purchases has led to many, many more pirated ebooks and copyright-violating loans than the removal of DRM from library books ever will.
"Honest" folk are honest. And nefarious folk aren't signing up for library cards and joining wait-lists to steal books. You can't say one way does no harm while simultaneously assuming the other way can't ever be done responsibly. Evil is in the eye of the evil-doer and nowhere else.
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It's been a number of years before I looked at the dark net, but my understanding is that very few pirated ebooks come from purchases where the DRM is removed. Most come from scanned books. I do know that at one time that Eric Flint said that it was rare to see any of the Websubscription ebooks on the dark net.