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rwsimon · 07-10-2007, 10:56 AM

Ethical issues related to copyrighted material have gotten so much more complicated in the era of digital media. There has never been an ethical problem associated with loaning somebody a book (or a record or a tape or such) when it was a matter of passing physical media back and forth. However, in the digital age, how does one "loan" somebody an e-book, for example, when both parties will at that point have the item in question? It seems to me that the properties of digital media cannot have changed the moral standing of lending one's property to another. However, if such a loan is no problem, one can quickly extrapolate to propagating the book to an unlimited number of people, one friend at a time. It's not an easy issue, but I guess it's one we're stuck with.

07-10-2007, 10:56 AM	#30
rwsimon Connoisseur Posts: 50 Karma: 288 Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Upstate New York Device: 2 Sony PRS-500s, iPad	Digital ethics Ethical issues related to copyrighted material have gotten so much more complicated in the era of digital media. There has never been an ethical problem associated with loaning somebody a book (or a record or a tape or such) when it was a matter of passing physical media back and forth. However, in the digital age, how does one "loan" somebody an e-book, for example, when both parties will at that point have the item in question? It seems to me that the properties of digital media cannot have changed the moral standing of lending one's property to another. However, if such a loan is no problem, one can quickly extrapolate to propagating the book to an unlimited number of people, one friend at a time. It's not an easy issue, but I guess it's one we're stuck with.