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Originally Posted by HansTWN
I certainly don't feel ashamed for defending others' rights. You are hurting publishers and authors by making/downloading illegal copies (you are asking everybody to work for free for your pleasure), if you are fine with that or don't see it that way, then there is no basis to continue this argument.
The only thing I can agree with you on is that usage rights are too restrictive. A buyer should have all the rights he or she has with a pbook. If publishers and authors didn't fear illegal copying they wouldn't use DRM (ineffective as it may be, in most cases). We can't stop technological development, easy copying of digital content will always be possible. But we can change users' attitudes, everybody must realize that unauthorized copying is wrong.
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I am no more hurting publishers by downloading a file than I am if I visited the library, borrowed a book from a friend or found one (as I did the other day) on the seat of a bus. They may have gained a sale though, in the long run, they may have made me a fan, but what they have never lost is money. You can't lose what wasn't there to begin with. And there is no need to further this argument, because this isn't necessarily an argument. You haven't actually made a cogent statement yet, or taken a position that isn't instantly laughable in the face of ten years of circumnvented DRM, ever increasing numbers of file sharers, and industries that are still turning a profit (despite the so-called scourge of piracy).
The only rights you're defending are the rights of the corporations to charge you over and over and over again for exactly the same product. The rights of the rich to get richer. If you think you're doing a damn thing for authors or the creative community, then think again. You want to help authors, read some that aren't published by the mainstream. Share their works with others, but don't come all White Knight on the net to defend something as laughable and outmoded as DRM or copyright, it'll make you look like a fool.