Quote:
Originally Posted by ErwinOtten
I don't know because I don't know the terms of the i-Tunes music store.
The question here was not if it's possible. Of course it's possible. I can put the PID from a friend's device in my account and download one of my books for him. It's basically the same as lending him a paper book of mine.
Do I find it morally acceptable? That's beside the point. The store's terms just make it an illegal action.
As been mentioned in another thread, you don't buy a book anymore; you just buy the right to read a book. And that's a completely different thing. People are just starting to realize that now..
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The store's terms do NOT make it an "illegal" action. It is NOT illegal to violate a contract. If you violate a contract, the other party to the contract can take actions to enforce the contract. Those actions can be to deny you some right you think you have, or ultimately, to sue you. But just because a contract says you agree not to do something doesn't mean that you have violated the law if you do it.
Putting aside the DMCA, which is the subject in another thread, here's what's illegal, per Title 17 of the US Code, section 506: (Bold added)
(1) In general.— Any person who willfully infringes a copyright shall be punished as provided under section 2319 of title 18, if the infringement was committed—
(A)
for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain;
(B) by the reproduction or distribution, including by electronic means, during any 180–day period, of 1 or more copies or phonorecords of 1 or more copyrighted works, which have a
total retail value of more than $1,000; or
(C) by the distribution of a work being prepared for commercial distribution, by making it available on a computer network accessible to members of the public, if such person knew or should have known that the work was intended for commercial distribution.
(2) Evidence.— For purposes of this subsection,
evidence of reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work, by itself, shall not be sufficient to establish willful infringement of a copyright.
Look at the words I've bolded. Basically, what this law says is "don't worry about violating the criminal law if you are treating an ebook as if it were a physical book."
As for the idea that you do not buy a book anymore, it's simply not true. Even if you are only talking about ebooks, it's not really true. Whether or not you have bought something and own it is not decided by the words one party places in a contract that the other party has to take or leave. That kind of contract is called a "contract of adhesion" and will not be enforced if a court determines that the terms of the contract are "unconscionable." Unconscionable is a legal term meaning "offends the court's sense of what is fair."
The problem is that ebook and other digital technologies have given rise to a legal environment in which we have not yet worked out what is legitimate to put in a contract, and what is not. So the sellers are taking advantage of this situation, plus the ephemeral nature of ebooks, to assert "rights" that in point of fact and law they do not have, and which in many instances will not be enforced if the matter gets in to court.
As far as I'm concerned, I ignore the provisions of any "contract" with an ebook seller if those provisions are aimed at restricting my right to keep, read, sell or give away an ebook I've bought. Note that I did not include "copy and give away" an ebook while keeping a copy for myself.
My advice to anyone
in the US is to do what seems fair and makes common sense, conforming to the way that you would deal with a physical book.
Sure, you want to act morally - just remember that the seller doesn't get to define "morality" for you by handing you a contract you can't negotiate about, and have to either take or leave.
For example, if you give away or sell your reader, of course you can leave the books on it - unless you plan to go back to the seller & download another copy for yourself. After all, you wouldn't sell a physical book, then go down to Borders and just walk off with another copy from their shelves.
Basically, no one has any need to fear the law if they deal with an ebook as if it were a physical book. About the worst thing that could happen is that if Amazon finds out, somehow, that you are violating their "contract," they can cut you off. There's not much you could do about that, so try not to come to their attention.
Me, I have a Sony. I don't need no stinkin' Amazon.
