Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
But don't forget, a book isn't just about the paper, it's an intellectual property... that's what you're paying for (plus extra for printing costs). If you steal a book, it's not considered illegal because you've deprived an honest citizen of buying it... it's illegal because you took it without paying for it. And downloading a property that you did not pay for, and which you are legally expected to pay for, is just as illegal as stealing a book off the shelf.
That's why transcribing, or downloading for free (in some cases) is considered legal only if you already own the work, IOW, paid for it legally. "Potential buyer" doesn't enter into it.
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I do not want to appear that I am all for "information wants to be free" slogan, but calling tens of millions of people who download music, books, movies, share them and so on... thieves and sitting on the moral high horse leads nowhere.
I want authors and publishers to be compensated fairly so they can keep writing, but we have to recognize that the current copyright system and the internet and more generally computers are not in sync to say the least.
Even laws are ultimately an expression of general will at least in an open society, so if tens of millions of people break those laws something has to be done.