[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

If I am to take this literally, you are an extreme libertarian. We would have to discuss that in the political section.

I don’t align myself with any particular party. Nor is it particularly relevant to the question asked. As a business I should have the right to sell my goods or not to whoever I choose, so long as it’s not for a reason which goes against a protected class. Libraries don’t fall under protected classes though they may serve those who do.

As for books, I think I can just trot out the classic freedom to read in support of democracy mantra. It may be that there are a few countries so affluent that few people need public libraries for extended exposure to the widest range of viewpoints, but most of the world is not like that.

This seems chiefly concerned with third parties (neither publisher nor library) removing books from libraries through (I presume) political pressure among other means. Not publishers choosing not to sell to libraries of their own volition. As to your last point that again is a moral reason not a legal argument. Libraries are still well stocked in Maryland and across the US (I’ll not speak for the world as it’s far too vast and varied to try and establish a base of what is well stocked, it’s also outside the scope of the OP). Bookstores still exist and I can assure you not all patrons buy the books they read within the walls of those stores.

As for the eBook role here, eReader prices haven't gone down as fast as I thought they would, so that they might become a preferred reading tool for lower imcome people worldwide. Bit it will come as eInks patents expire.

Tablets can be had for around 50$ USD, there are cheaper though I can’t speak to their quality, and of course there’s second hand which seems like a fairly viable option especially compared to the sub 50$ tablets sold as new. With that and a library card you’ve got a virtually limitless number of books at your fingertips. Eink isn’t the only way in to the library system. This is also overlooking smartphones which providers are almost throwing at consumers to sign up with them, and not last decades models either these are typically current or one generation behind current models. Now granted tablets aren’t a single purpose tool and I personally prefer my Kobo to a tablet for reading but the option is there and at a very reasonable price. Though you can probably find decent eink devices from 50-70 used and certainly from 70-100 new, will they have all the bells and whistles of the higher priced models no, but they are well above functional.

The Maryland law only concerns titles available electronically. There are so few more or less current narrative books still unavailable electonically that I don't see a big freedom to read issue with undigitized books.

Let’s say you’re an artist you paint primarily in reds and greens. Your logic would say I can buy your prints and redistribute them altered for red/green color blind individuals for free. This undermines your ability to sell your work as it’s now available free and with some effort can be converted back to its original form. The same is true for books being converted to braille.

I’d agree with you a little if you were talking about a 1:1 conversion after which the original is destroyed and the party to whom the new format is given expressly agrees not to duplicate it. But this is rather difficult to enforce on every front involved.