[Aleron Ives]

I'm curious what fellow MR users think about the morality of e-book loans. When you buy a paper book, most people seem to agree that it's OK loan it to a friend or family member. Since an e-book doesn't involve a physical object, is it ever OK to send a copy to a friend on the conditions that a) he will delete it when he's done reading it, and b) you won't read it until he's finished?

In theory, this preserves the spirit behind buying one copy of the book and having only one person read it at a time, so there ought not to be any ethical problems with it, as long as both of you obey the rules of the loan. Of course, if you suspect this friend might not have the integrity to delete the book after reading it, then you probably shouldn't "loan" him a copy.

Do you ever share e-books in the same way you would share paper books? Are there any conditions under which you think it's OK or not OK to share them? Is the ability to share a book with a friend one of the perks of paper books that you just have to give up in order to embrace e-books? Feel free to chime in.