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#271 | ||
Guru
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Karma: 2003751
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Ottawa, ON
Device: Kobo Glo HD
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#272 |
Junior Member
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Karma: 10
Join Date: Dec 2010
Device: kobo
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The US copyright and patent laws suck big time. This nation has its blood sucked by lawyers...
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#273 | |
King of the Bongo Drums
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Karma: 5927225
Join Date: Feb 2009
Device: Excelsior! (Strange...)
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For another, what I said was entirely consistent with the sentence you quote. He's leaving the payment up to the buyer. |
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#274 | |
King of the Bongo Drums
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Karma: 5927225
Join Date: Feb 2009
Device: Excelsior! (Strange...)
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Assume that you are selling the ebook to your friend. Would you sell it without letting him know that it's a public domain ebook that he can get for free? I would hope not. So is your position that your ethical obligation to your friend is different than your ethical obligation to a stranger? |
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#275 | |
monkey on the fringe
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Karma: 158733736
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Seattle Metro
Device: Moto E6, Echo Show
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For example, I recently purchased a Kodak PlaySport pocket camcorder from Amazon for $109. I checked prices at all the usual tech stores before going with Amazon. At the time of my purchase, Target was selling the same exact item for full retail ($150). Was Target being unethical by not informing customers that the same item was available at Amazon for only $109? |
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#276 | |
Zealot
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Join Date: Nov 2010
Device: K3
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unfortunately you are not repeating an argument, you're repeating an unfounded allegation without giving any reasons or arguments why what you claim should be so. |
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#277 | ||
Interested Bystander
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Karma: 19728152
Join Date: Jun 2008
Device: Note 4, Kobo One
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#278 |
Wizard
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Karma: 33602910
Join Date: Oct 2010
Device: PocketBook 903 & 360+
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#279 |
Interested Bystander
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Karma: 19728152
Join Date: Jun 2008
Device: Note 4, Kobo One
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#280 | |
Reading is sexy
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Karma: 544517
Join Date: Apr 2009
Device: none
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It's unfortunate that someone would use PG books to make money from them, but the PG volunteers know they cannot prevent people from redistributing their work because it doesn't belong to them. Is it ethical to profit from someone else's work that they made freely available? I don't think it's ethical. So there's your agreement. But I also see no way to prevent it from happening. I'm not sure why you insist on trying to remove all legal arguments. Once you believe something is "wrong", the natural next step in thought process is "how do I stop it from happening?" All that said, I find that the PG books are horrendously formatted with line breaks and missing italics, etc. I will gladly pay someone a couple bucks to either 1. sell me a collection so I can conveniently download it all at once, or 2. format the text better so that it fits my definition of "readable". Last edited by queentess; 12-09-2010 at 09:38 AM. |
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#281 | |
Reading is sexy
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Karma: 544517
Join Date: Apr 2009
Device: none
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I would also probably be indignant if I put a lot of working into something, received no profit, and someone else did in my stead. However, the PG people are all volunteers. They're doing it "for the greater good". They have chosen to waive their ability to profit from their work. I don't think this should prevent someone else from doing so. It's not particularly ethical of a person to do that, and I wouldn't do it myself, but I also don't think I should impose my ethics on everyone else. Last edited by queentess; 12-09-2010 at 09:42 AM. |
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#282 | ||
Professional Contrarian
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Karma: 3289631
Join Date: Mar 2009
Device: Kindle 4 No Touchie
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Second, I'm saying that the ethical claims are bogus, and are a thin veneer over the emotional reaction. Yet again: The PD seller is withholding information that costs me an extra $10 and benefits him. Tourneau is withholding information that costs me an extra $100 and benefits Tourneau. Seriously, what's the difference -- except that Tourneau is taking me for a much bigger ride? Why is Tourneau allowed to "rip me off" ten times worse than a PD bookseller? Or, consider the following thought experiment. The government decides to levy a 10¢ tax on all public domain downloads of ebooks. Even if you give away the ebook for free, you still need to pay 10¢ every time a copy is downloaded from your site. If you sell the PD book through Amazon or Smashwords, they pass the cost on to you. Henceforth, every distributor pays 10¢ every time they sell a PD ebook. It is no longer free; it carries a cost. Is it now acceptable to charge for the PD book? Does it now make sense that, since you do have a cost associated with the book, that you can charge, say, $1 for it? If you think it is unacceptable to charge anything when the costs are $0.00 but acceptable to charge when the cost is $0.10, then that's an emotional reaction to gratis, not a rational analysis. Quote:
As to ebooks, I would tell my friend "this version is free, and that version costs a small amount but has better formatting and a bunch of essays, by the way caveat emptor." Plus, just about every ebook retailer is trumpeting free ebooks. Google has a big section on their books front page for "Best of the Free," Amazon has a separate "Free Bestsellers" and also lists all the other prices, etc etc. In a lot of cases, you kinda have to be working at it not to know there's a free version available. And while there will be much overlap, clearly the ethical obligations are certainly different between friend and friend, individual and stranger, seller and buyer. |
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#283 | |
Guru
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Karma: 2003751
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Ottawa, ON
Device: Kobo Glo HD
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I do Linux drivers for living, and have used free and open source code for long time. My contribution to the community was: a) reporting bugs b) submitting patches when I have need to overcome that issue, c) providing user-to-user help with the installation, configuration and operation of FOSS software. Other than that, I am using FOSS software as "free as beer". Now, with calibre I haven't done much of "a" and "b", and kicked in to help only in one instance with "c". The reason? I don't use calibre much. ![]() Nowhere on the calibre web page have I found a reference to "purchase", "buy" or any other term that suggests that calibre is sold. If it is, I refuse to devalue others work by offering to pay $0 dollars, even for a nonexistent use, and will remove calibre immediately from my machine. What I really, really need to do, and was postponing until now, is to have ADE running under wine. Calibre, despite my respect for a myriad of functions and all work that was thrown into it, serves only as an alternative to the vmware machine running MS Windows, ADE and Sony software. Yes, Kovid has not corrected you, but neither has he reacted to my interpretation. Maybe this message will trigger his reaction. The difference between "free download" and "pay what you want" is significant. Last edited by Ankh; 12-09-2010 at 01:03 PM. |
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#284 |
Zealot
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Join Date: Nov 2010
Device: K3
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#285 |
Guru
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Karma: 2003751
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Ottawa, ON
Device: Kobo Glo HD
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