Quote:
Originally Posted by the.Mtn.Man
The easiest way to lend digital books to a friend is to simply strip out the DRM and email the file to them.
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No, that's wrong. It's the same as photocopying an entire book. I'd not mind my books being lent by you loaning the eReader they are legitimately on. I'd consider a civil suit against anyone sending copies. I don't even have DRM on my books. That is for the convenience of the purchaser so they can read it on any device and that it can freely copied when copyright expires.
Even books without DRM and free download can't be copied to others if in copyright (
www.gutenberg.org are fine). The friend has to download their own free copy.
Copyright is international treaties implemented as laws in most countries. Contrary to messages on DVDs, "piracy" is NOT theft. It's violation of the distribution rights of the copyright owner. It can be a criminal offence (fixed maximum tariffs), but in most countries it's a Civil offence.
Criminal: Government gets value of fine, guilty can be fined or jail or both. i.e. steal a carton of physical books. Maximum amount of fine/jail set by law.
Civil: The damaged party gets all the money and their costs. No risk of jail but there is NO limit on the damages that can be set. Hence Cable TV in Ireland never wants a Prosecution for "Theft of Service" (max $6000 fine & 6 months jail). They bring a Civil case on behalf of the cable content's copyright holders. Damages of over $100,000 plus all costs against people enabling piracy are common. Usually they will settle with the consumers of pirated content for a back payment of top package backdated to date the person/family moved into the address.
Unauthorised copies are immoral and may be illegal. Certainly make you open to a civil case you'd lose. Copying to another device of your own, or a backup isn't immoral. Mostly outside the USA it's even legal, even if DRM needs removed. Sadly removal of DRM in USA is illegal. That's plain wrong.