Quote:
Originally Posted by PKFFW
Likening illegal downloads to borrowing a book from the library or a friend is a bit specious. In each case one is obtaining legal access to the book, illegal downloading of a book is not gaining legal access to the book.
Why not just man up and admit you know what you are doing is wrong and you are ok with it?
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Because for a lot of us, "wrong" includes "harm." If I download a book I would've otherwise read at the library, without checking it out (I've done this plenty of times), who's harmed? If I make a PDF of a graphic novel that's freely available in JPG format on the author's site, and hand that to someone who can't access the site, who is harmed?
Some of us think "wrong" means "more harmful than the alternatives." Or, "harmful to people I care about." If I download a book from the darknet, and leave $5 in the author's tip jar, and bypass the publisher's cut of the DRM'd ebook fees, I have not harmed the author financially.
Not all of us agree that free exchange of ebooks is wrong. Even if it is illegal. Which not all of us agree on, either, in all cases. Between the insane DMCA and ridiculous copyright lengths, a lot of us think that ignoring some aspects of copyright law is a matter of claiming our free speech rights--and civil rights are rarely gained by politely waiting for laws to change; they are gained by breaking unethical laws until they're no longer socially or economically acceptable.
To sum up:
1) Not everyone agrees that all ebooksharing is illegal.
2) Not everyone agrees that all illegal activities are "wrong."