[deleted] or [deleted]??

Just a random thought: it would be handy to have a database of ebook vendors. Sites that distribute content illegally wouldn't be browsable, but you could still access their record by entering their domain name into the search field. That way you wouldn't be advertising for them, but people would still receive fair warning if they do stumble across those vendors.

Then again, even that has legal consequences. :/

[DarkScribe]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

The point is, he didn't know they were pirate sites otherwise he wouldn't be asking. Questions like this pop up quite regularly here, so it seems reasonable to assume that a lot of other people would be tricked by them too.

But here's the thing, not knowing they are pirate sites is not a defence when the copyright police come for you.

Not so. It is a defence under most Westminster based law. To be found guilty of committing a crime, intent to commit a crime must be proved.

If I decided to be an antisocial twit and change the local highway speed signs from 100 KPH, to 110 KPH, any person who was pulled over doing the higher speed would definitely NOT be found guilty. (This happened not far from here a few years ago, and no, it wasn't me.)

If you do something "in good faith" you will not be found guilty of lawbreaking. If you buy something that was not legally owned by the person selling it to you, you will likely have whatever it was confiscated, but you will not be charged. (Not in most jurisdictions.)

[sandyjunebug]

It is so strange that when we buy or pass our read paper books that it is not called pirated. Second hand booksellers are seen to be legit, but no royalities are paid when the books are resold.
The names of the sites I got by doing a search while looking for some older books.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by sandyjunebug

It is so strange that when we buy or pass our read paper books that it is not called pirated.

It isn't strange at all. It's not pirating because the activities that you list are not creating extra copies of a book. It's only when you start creating unauthorised additional copies that copyright law gets involved.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by plib

If anyone wants to pirate they're not going to go to a site that charges them! If you really want to hurt them you'd do better to leave their name up and tell everyone they're ripoff artists.

There are those people who feel that downloading a book for free is bad but if you pay someone for it even if they didn't have the right to distribute it it's OK. There was a discussion when I initially joined MR about ebook sites and how do you know that they are legitimate. One point was that even Amazon had trouble with books that weren't uploaded by the copyright holder or a person representing them. But some consumers don't actually care about that. They aren't going to go through the trouble of verifying that the books sold on Amazon are sold legally because it just doesn't matter.

The same could be said about [deleted] and [deleted] (whatever sites those were). People have seen discounted books and ebooks are expected to be cheaper than pbooks anyway. So if the prices are lower than in other stores they just might not look that deep.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

There are those people who feel that downloading a book for free is bad but if you pay someone for it even if they didn't have the right to distribute it it's OK. There was a discussion when I initially joined MR about ebook sites and how do you know that they are legitimate. One point was that even Amazon had trouble with books that weren't uploaded by the copyright holder or a person representing them. But some consumers don't actually care about that. They aren't going to go through the trouble of verifying that the books sold on Amazon are sold legally because it just doesn't matter.

The same could be said about [deleted] and [deleted] (whatever sites those were). People have seen discounted books and ebooks are expected to be cheaper than pbooks anyway. So if the prices are lower than in other stores they just might not look that deep.

So do you think each individual has an active duty to verify that a book sale is legal? Sorry, but that's ridiculous.

It's not that consumers "don't actually care" or that it "doesn't matter" to them--it's that it is an absurdly onerous burden.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by Catlady

So do you think each individual has an active duty to verify that a book sale is legal? Sorry, but that's ridiculous.

It's not that consumers "don't actually care" or that it "doesn't matter" to them--it's that it is an absurdly onerous burden.

Why are the [deleted] sites considered pirate sites? Just because the Harry Potter books can be found on them? There were illegal copies of the HP books on Amazon in the past. Does that make Amazon a pirate site?

There was this argument that Amazon could lose it's top position in the market if some other website manages to get lower prices, but we are expected to mistrust any website that manages to do just that.

If you are supposed to verify the legitimacy of a website that you never heard of before, why wouldn't you have to verify the source of the books purchased from a website when you know it has distributed illegal copies in the past?

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by Catlady

So do you think each individual has an active duty to verify that a book sale is legal? Sorry, but that's ridiculous.

It's not that consumers "don't actually care" or that it "doesn't matter" to them--it's that it is an absurdly onerous burden.

Well, the copyright system does not charge copyright holders even a tiny fraction of what it would cost to have the government pick up the tab for that burden. When you want something for free you tend to accuse others of something nefarious when they aren't providing your free stuff.

As goofy and over the top as giggleton is, he only ever debates against other people who also want free stuff in the other direction. Thus, they are sort of in balance.

To see this on a larger scale, watch the collaps of the Euro (happening in real time before you now) to be followed by the flawed govermental frankenstein that instituted it.