Quote:
Originally Posted by John F
To me, a copy of the book on your computer litteraly means keeping a borrowed book past their return date.
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Well I’d argue it’s not exactly quite the same, as if you keep a borrowed book, no one else can read it, while keeping a de-DRMed copy after expiry does not prevent someone else from borrowing the book.
But obviously this is a complex topic where we try to apply the logic of physical things to digital ones. Keeping a copy of a borrowed digital book is not the same as keeping an actual book, as there is no concrete “loss” down the line. One could argue that the copy represents a lost sale, but it’s not quite the case - the person who copied the book would probably not have bought it anyway. There is no scarcity in the digital world, and trying to force such a scarcity results in a model which breaks at the seams.
I obviously believe authors should be rewarded for their work; I just think that trying to apply physical constraints to the digital world is an endeavor bound to fail.