Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg
It's not a criminal matter, and there is no "you" who can possibly do time, or even be fined. No one is going to be punished except, slightly, Apple stockholders.
|
The lack of ability to imprison or kill corporations over criminal matters is one of the reasons corporations should not be considered legal "persons."
Quote:
|
To personalize it, I involuntarily own thousands of dollars of Apple stock through a pension plan I have contributed to since 1982. Why should I, who couldn't have possibly had anything to do with the conspiracy, have to pay even a dime to people who voluntarily bought a book at a price they knew up front?
|
By that logic, any public corporation could commit all manner of illegal acts and argue that they shouldn't be punished because the shareholders are innocent.
If your pension fund managers invest your money in organizations that can't be bothered to operate within the law, then you may have grounds for a suit against them. That doesn't mean the people who were wronged shouldn't be compensated for it.
Being willing to buy a book at $15 doesn't mean it's legal for anyone to sell the book at that price, not when the only reason there's no acceptable book at $10 is that competitors have agreed not to offer any at that price. We make purchases in good faith that the suppliers are selling according to the terms of the law; when that's not the case, refunds are a reasonable compensation for the overcharging.
Quote:
|
If anyone is a victim of high eBook prices, it is the lower middle class taxpayer who can't afford to buy eBooks, but is forced, through taxes, to pay the sky-high eBook prices charged public libraries.
|
Since I am below the "lower middle class taxpayer" income, and I can afford ebooks, I can't believe that anyone who's paying notable taxes towards libraries can't afford ebooks.
At this point, being able to afford ebooks and a reader isn't a matter of money but know-how. Even people at the edge of total poverty can afford a used Sony-300 ($25 at Amazon), and there's no shortage of free, quality ebooks, starting with the Gutenberg collection. Not everyone has the technical skills required; not everyone has an interest in digital books; not everyone would be able to use one without breaking it in a matter of days. But the devices themselves are no longer very expensive, especially if all one wants to do with it is read.
The travesty of rights-erosions and high prices being inflicted on libraries have nothing to do with whether the average library patron or other member of the community could afford ebooks.