Quote:
Originally Posted by bill_mchale
We are not talking about a vendor putting a book up on its site as a freebie that they shouldn't have. We are talking about people going to peer to peer sites and downloading recent books.
With respect, in the United States, if you knowingly take possession of stolen property, in most areas, you have committed a crime. Further, the changes in copyright, though I abhor them, are not that hard to parse out.
As for figuring out if the Author got royalties or not... lets put it this way, if the book is free, and the author or his publisher were not the ones who posted it, it is probably safe to assume that it was done so without the author's permission.
No, it is the responsibility of everyone involved. To me, it sounds like you are arguing that you should be allowed to enjoy the benefits of illegal behavior.
Of course it makes sense. You are taking possession of a book (or tune or movie) that you have not paid for and have no right to use; why should that be legal.
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Legally speaking, while receiving stolen property is illegal, media piracy is not theft. Theft requires taking something physical, or the rights to it. If I download a copy of it, well, the owner still has their copy, as well as the right to sell it to others. Theft would be depriving them of that ability, because they either don't have it, or are no longer able to use it. So you are NOT, legally speaking, taking possession of anything, since they still have it.
PS: why do you sign your name at the end of your posts? That is what the signature option is for.