Quote:
Originally Posted by MacBeezle
But if that's his only problem he has a very sad life^^
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There are those who would reply that having nothing higher than one's own whims to serve sounds like a pretty futile way to live.
However, if they made such an observation I would point out to them, as I am ponting out now, that this is not the place for such discussions.
The subject is totally off the entire range of topics that MobileRead exists to explore (not to mention the topic of this thread), and it's extremely likely to cause strife, without any likelihood of producing anything worthwhile.
We've worked very hard to create a community where ideas can be exchanged and explored respectfully amongst the members, without fear of the kind of rancor that's likely to come from such discussions, and we tend to be pretty protective of that sense of community, and goodwill.
So, I guess then that the
real question is, what do you think about the ethics of using/downloading/making electronic copies of books that you own or don't own, from the perspective of your ethical and moral world view, MacBeezle?
Personally, while I believe very strongly in the idea that authors and publishers deserve to benefit from their efforts, and that copyright laws are a good
concept (however poorly implemented I might feel they currently are in my country), I figure if I've got a paper copy, then I am accounting for one of the copies that the author and publisher were paid for, and I don't really have any qualms about acquiring and reading an electronic copy that may have come from somewhere other than the publisher or author.
I have
one copy that was paid for, and I'm only reading
one copy, and I'm not spreading any
other copies around, so I don't have any ethical problem, and I frankly consider such a scenario to be 'fair use' even though the law may technically disagree with me, and many publishers and authors may vehemently disagree with me.
How do you see those factors interacting from your perspective, MacBeezle?
