[pdurrant]

There is not yet a general consensus on the terms under which electronic books (& other digital items in general) should be sold.

For physical objects, it's simple. You pay money and receive an object. You can use that item in any way you like. You can keep it, use it, destroy it, or sell it to someone else. You're not allowed to manufacture a duplicate to sell or give away, unless the item is a design that's in the public domain. But since duplicating a physical object is generally quite hard, this isn't an issue most people come across.

Ebooks. About the only similarity to buying a physical object is that money changes hands.

Having bought an ebook, what should I be allowed to do with it?

Should I be able to download it, or only read on-line? Who should be allowed to read the ebook? Should I be able to sell whatever it is that I've bought to someone else, and if so, how? If my backups fail, should I be allowed to redownload from the retailer?

How does the mobileread community think that ebook sales ought to operate.

NB I'm not asking how ebook sales currently operate, or what the law says in any particular country, or whether DRM is ever a good idea.

I'm interested in hearing how people think it should work in a world where your ideas on ebook sales were law.