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OK, I think we might have covered all sides of the Copyright infringement, Theft, Piracy or whatever naming game.
Now, why don't we focus on the reasons behind all this...
Why would an author not want his books sold to the maximum possible number of customers? Who profits from this whole geo-restrictions stuff, especially since it is not in evidence with physical books and only very recently became a hot topic for ebooks?
My opinions is that the internet took many governments and corporations by surprise. Most did not anticipate it's quick rise and also did not forsee how it creates a truly globalized society. Now, panic mode kicks in, and instead of moving witht he times and adapting to the new situation many are attempting to tame the internet and turn it back into something that can be controlled and policed on a national scale. In doing so they are (once again) overreacting and posing more restrictions on online-commerce than on physical goods. Nobody is really profiting from this (apart from possibly the pirates who might not gain money but do gain popularity) but it is still happening and it's getting worse rather than better.
And one other thing:
DRM, copy-protection and similar stuff is actually causing a lot of bother for customers and considerable cost for publishers...and the effect it is having on piracy is basically nonexistent...I'm not saying we don't need some kind of barrier to make copying of intellectual property a little less attractive to joe-average, but it has to be reasonable. If the pirated copy of something is not only free but also vastly more convenient to aquire and use then somebody is going to have to do something about it soon. The music industry is learning, sadly the ebook and video crowd are making all the old mistakes again...
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