Quote:
Originally Posted by DuckieTigger
If you borrow a book through KU and circumvent Amazon's intended tracking, then you literally steal money that was supposed to go to your author.
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I completely disagree with that statement.
Not anymore, ... but I used to be able to pay for a KU subscription, download and transfer a book I borrowed from KU with Amazon's blessing, and sideload that onto my Kindle which is in airplane mode. Yes, I was circumventing Amazon's intended tracking. That wasn't my main goal in transferring the book this way, but was indeed one goal. But it was perfectly legal, perfectly ethical, and not stealing in any way shape or form. If this type of transfer allowed Amazon to keep every penny of my subscription money and not give one cent of it to the author, that is Amazon's doing, with the author's acceptance. I was not stealing from the author. But I might agree that Amazon was. However, the author evidently consented to this deal when they signed their contract with Amazon, so they really don't have a leg to stand on if they were to try and force Amazon to pay up. Amazon may have been a bully in creating this contract. But that does not mean that I "literally stole money from the author".
Now Amazon has blocked this method of transfer, which is probably good for authors (unless there is some other catch/caveat Amazon is exploiting here). That's their prerogative. And I will not be using KU anymore because of this change. That's my prerogative. And it has nothing to do with author payments.