Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaggy
If the downloader has paid for the pBook, then it's an entirely different ethical matter.
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I accept the point that downloading from, what for want of a better word, we are calling the darknet, is sometimes construed as a form of convenient format shifting. And I also probably accept there is "some" ethical difference between this and downloading where the downloader has paid for nothing. What I was questioning was whether there was a difference in ethical value between the act of downloading something you haven't paid for and the act of uploading something so that other people can download that thing, without paying for it.
I'm not expressing a view on what the ethical value of those act might be, I simply suggesting that, whatever value they have is pretty similar.
I'm not of course talking about those cases where the downloader "doesn't know" that this thing they are downloading isn't in the public domain, but where it's quite plain because of what they are downloading and where they are downloading it from that this is an "unauthorized" download. And of course, whether anyone knows about it or can prove it doesn't really change the ethical value of the act.