Moral and Ethical Norms Regarding Book Sharing

[shalym]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The "family library" is in essence a shared account - merging the contents of two accounts into a single pool - isn't it?

Kind of--it's not all of the contents of an account, only ebooks, apps, and audio books.

According to the terms, though, ebooks are available only for my personal use.

With the family library, I am explicitly allowed to share a book with other people in my family. I am also explicitly allowed to share books with others that use devices attached to my account.

Therefore, Amazon is not following their own licensing terms.

Shari

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by shalym

Kind of--it's not all of the contents of an account, only ebooks, apps, and audio books.

According to the terms, though, ebooks are available only for my personal use.

With the family library, I am explicitly allowed to share a book with other people in my family. I am also explicitly allowed to share books with others that use devices attached to my account.

Therefore, Amazon is not following their own licensing terms.

Shari

You might want to double check that fact. It has to be immediate family and IIRC they can buy digital stuff on your account.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by shalym

The license terms that you quoted completely contradict the actual way ebooks/audiobooks/apps are allowed to be used through Amazon, though.

So...either the whole "family library" is against Amazon's license terms, or the license terms are wrong.

Shari

No, the licensing is not wrong.
If HarryT allows me to share his account then Amazon knows it. The amount of licenses stays the same. It is still personal use not commercial use.
If Jon gives me a copy of an ebook and keeps the original, that is a copyright violation.

[DiapDealer]

I don't think it's a huge deal or anything, but I agree that the wording of Amazon's ToS is a bit at odds with their policy on family sharing--semantically speaking. But if they're going to allow it, I'm not going to sweat it.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I used to grouse about people saying 'ATM machine' or 'PIN number', but don't any longer.

ATM is already redundant. AT should be sufficient.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

ATM is already redundant. AT should be sufficient.

Apartment Therapy???

[HarryT]

Family sharing allows you to share content with one specific other adult (and up to four children). You also have to share payment methods, so it had better be a person whom you trust . Given that the wording says "... in your household", I suspect there's probably a check that the other person is at the same address as you.

Very different to sending copies of books to arbitrary family members at other locations.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I used to grouse about people saying 'ATM machine' or 'PIN number', but don't any longer.

I read a long time ago (I think it was in the NYT style book, but I can't remember for sure) that stylistically the redundancy was acceptable so long as the redundant word was that represented by the last letter in the acronym. Thus, "OPEC countries" is fine as are your examples; "OPEC nations" is not.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by issybird

I read a long time ago (I think it was in the NYT style book, but I can't remember for sure) that stylistically the redundancy was acceptable so long as the redundant word was that represented by the last letter in the acronym. Thus, "OPEC countries" is fine as are your examples; "OPEC nations" is not.

Would that be the NYT Times style book?

[issybird]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

Would that be the NYT Times style book?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by issybird

I read a long time ago (I think it was in the NYT style book, but I can't remember for sure) that stylistically the redundancy was acceptable so long as the redundant word was that represented by the last letter in the acronym. Thus, "OPEC countries" is fine as are your examples; "OPEC nations" is not.

I don't see any problem with that, personally. "OPEC" is the name of the organisation. "OPEC nations" are nations which are members of OPEC.

It's not like saying "ISBN number", or "AC current", where you're redundantly repeating the last letter of the acronym.

Human language is full of redundancy, anyway, which is there to reduce the chance of misunderstandings. Phrases like "join together" (things that join can only do so together) or "prior experience" (all experience is, by definition, prior).

[shalym]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

You might want to double check that fact. It has to be immediate family and IIRC they can buy digital stuff on your account.

Actually, they can't buy anything on my account, and I can't buy anything on their account. We share prime shipping privileges, ebooks, audiobooks, and apps. We do NOT share payment methods.

I'm not sure about immediate family...I don't remember seeing that in the conditions, but I can't find the terms on the site now.

Shari

[Tarana]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Family sharing allows you to share content with one specific other adult (and up to four children). You also have to share payment methods, so it had better be a person whom you trust . Given that the wording says "... in your household", I suspect there's probably a check that the other person is at the same address as you.

Very different to sending copies of books to arbitrary family members at other locations.

Actually, no there isn't any 'check'. But it IS true that you can share with only one other adult and up to 4 children. Family sharing also allows you to share music and audiobooks in addition to ebooks. I didn't know about the apps and don't know on the video since my bro and I don't have the same interests.

In my opinion, morality is different from legality with the ebook sharing thing. The insistence that you have bought a license instead of a book is irksome to me. I can't even read paper books any longer due to eye damage. However, that issue has been discussed ad nauseum on this forum already. So long as I can remove DRM so that I can put MY book on any of MY devices, and share my devices, I am keeping with the intent of copywrite.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Tarana

I am keeping with the intent of copywrite.

Note that it is copyright - it's about who has the right to make a copy, not about writing .

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The "family library" is in essence a shared account - merging the contents of two accounts into a single pool - isn't it?

With Adobe's DRM, I am allowed to register multiple devices. I could register mine and my mother's to the same account. The DRM would then allow both of us to read the same eBook.Amazon allows the same thing with their DRM.