Quote:
Originally Posted by cmdahler
Violating copyright law is a crime. You may try to rationalize it by saying your situation is different, yadda, yadda: just the meaningless noise of someone trying to justify themselves. No, you haven't killed anyone, yes, it may help sales for the author, yes, the publishing houses charge too much, yes, the law ought to be changed, etc., etc. I've heard it all over in the music file sharing community. Talk to the hand. It's all just rationalization. It's still violating the law, so it's still a criminal act.
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My sense of it is that consumers are not violating copyright, so much as they are (1) circumventing DRM and (2) space-shifting books from the paper world to the digital world.
Let's start with DRM. DRM is a conspiracy of large media companies against consumers. It is intended and has the effect of robbing consumers of their traditional rights of fair use under copyright law. In fact, I think it is fair to say that DRM itself, as a practical matter, allows the copyright owner to violate fair use, which is part of copyright, and that in the book world, publishers are using it to do exactly that. Therefore, it little bothers me when people get DRMed books off the darknet. It is publishers who are, in effect, breaking the law, not consumers.
As for space-shifting, I believe that a lot of people are simply acquiring books in digital format which they either already have in paper form, or which are not available in digital form through ordinary channels.
In the former case, the customer is entitled to have a fair use electronic copy of a book he already owns. No copyright law, or DRM law, makes it illegal to acquire such a copy. The situation would be the same, even if a digital version of the book were already available. (See the first sentence of this paragraph.)
In the latter case, things are a little dicier. But it seems to me that the publisher has the opportunity to make a digital edition available, and if he decides not to do so, it must be because there is no money in it for him. Therefore, I question whether the publisher is being hurt by the customer getting a digital copy off of the darknet. I would not feel this way if a digital copy were available for purchase.
The plain fact of the matter is that copyright law does not contemplate the digital environment, and our lawmakers have not seen fit to address the situation except by buying into DRM. And if you read the DMCA closely, it becomes clear that the law does not punish the ultimate consumer of the ebook if DRM is violated. It punishes everyone BUT the ultimate consumer. That is, the DMCA does not change copyright law. And as I understand copyright law, if you make a copy of a book and give it to me, you violate the law, but I don't.
So in my view, your premise, which seems to be that the acquisition by the consumer of a digital copy of an ebook from someone other than the owner of the copyright is a criminal act on the part of the consumer, is simply wrong.