Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
That's because lending someone a physical book does not involve making a copy of it, hence (self-evidently) copyright does not enter into it. When you give someone a copy of an e-Book, the operative word is "copy", hence copyright law does apply.
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Yeah, that's the central problem and what makes digital content so troublesome and worrisome for publishers and authors.
With a physical book that's bought legally, there's only one copy to float around (people could photo copy it, scan it etc. of course, but that's less of a problem as it's a hassle). You loan out your copy, you don't have yours anymore and only one person at a time can have your copy.
But with digital content you can give the file to a friend, then you both have copies. It's not really loaning since both copies work at the same time and can be kept permanently. And nothings stopping you from giving it to only one friend or family member while keeping your copy, or from people you give it to to make copies and pass on to their friends while keeping a copy for their self etc.
I don't think this super restrictive DRM is the way to go though, it goes too far in limiting how we can use e-books we buy ourselves. I say just scrap DRM and find more effective ways to enforce piracy than silly (and rare) huge lawsuits etc.
Or if we have to have DRM, build in lending capabilities so we can lend e-books to one other person for a set amount of time (and our copy isn't usable while they have it, just like you can't read a paper book while it's loaned out). Also build in the ability to permanently transfer a book to another person so you can sell or give away e-books you've read while not having the copy work on your account.
The problem their is that type of scheme isn't feasible until we have one e-book format so the scheme can be uniform across all devices etc. But when that's possible I think that's a viable option. It won't stop the out right pirates, but it will probably get the average legit user to not strip DRM and solve problems of a loaned e-book ending up in multiple people's hands as people pass it on while keeping their copy (rather than passing around a paper book).