Quote:
Originally Posted by jament
Shaggy's right. And the only morally valid reason to illegally download books is as a form of protest and civil disobedience against the publishing industry.
If you object to the availability, pricing, DRM and restrictions of e-books not only do you have a responsibility, as Rawls argues, to communicate your objection by illegally downloading as many books as you can find, you also have a responsibility to publicize it and make sure that the public and government know what you're doing and why.
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Illegally downloading from the darknet does not, in fact, demonstrate a dislike in e-book prices. It does demonstrate your willingness to take illegal steps to get what you want, which is a different thing altogether.
You can achieve the same effect without the civil disobedience, in this case. Simply inform the publisher or author that you refused to buy the e-book, and why, and it gets the point across. Illegal downloading only makes you look like a criminal to a publisher or author, and a criminal is no one they want to do business with.