The Hobbit at Feedbooks

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

well, i don't know how common "limpid" is in english (i mean, i know it, so it can't be completely obscure, right ?) but i *did* mention the french word :

It gets used more in (bad?) romantic poetry and fiction than in general everyday use - gazing into limpid eyes, eyes like limpid pools(*), all that sort of thing.


(*) When I was very young I didn't know the difference between limpet and limpid, and wondered why eyes were being compared to rock pools full of rock hugging molluscs.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by ShortNCuddlyAm

(*) When I was very young I didn't know the difference between limpet and limpid, and wondered why eyes were being compared to rock pools full of rock hugging molluscs.

i mostly use it to describe ideas, as i did here. but i'll start telling people they've got limpid eyes and see what reaction i get.

[Over]

Originally Posted by ErwinOtten

But of course it's a deliberate act of will. But I sincerely doubt if a average 17 year old knows enough of copyright-laws (for books that is, I'm sure they all know it's illegal to download music and/or films) to know he shouldn't put a copy of 'The Hobbit' in the public domain.

But maybe you're right and I'm just naïve in that..........

I agree. I do understand that a kid could think that "it's ok to upload books, since anyone can read them for free in a library", for example.

[Phogg]

[=X=]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Sigh... I feel so stupid when I have to look up a word that some French chick uses in a forum. A very intelligent French chick.. but nevertheless.

BOb

Well don't feel bad, isn't the majority of "High English" derived from french words.
=X=

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by tompe

And I actually thought that one version of Lord of the Rings was in the public domain but after reading a bit more about it I became unsure.

Definitely not .

[stustaff]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Definitely not .

How do you know he didnt become unsure?

[mjh215]

HarryT - People who have spent alot of time looking up copyright laws and checking titles still have debates on this site as to what is and isn't applicable and you think the average person should know better? Come on, I have no problem that we disagree on the laws (Or more precisely on the means of enforcing those laws), but that really is stretching it.

Your average person who would be looking for a ebook copy of The Hobbit might first try their regular eBookstore, Amazon or whatever. After finding out it isn't there they might Google it. Googling (and I won't post direct links) 'The Hobbit ebook' has as its first hit a PDF copy of the text. Nothing indicating anything illegal about it. I didn't, for obvious reasons, download it to verify it isn't a plant but I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't real. Several other hits are to torrents and such. Even supposing that that should trigger an immediate flag of nefarious dealings why would that tell someone that the first isn't up to snuff? I have googled many books that have had torrent hits on the first page intermixed with legimate hits for Fictionwise and others. Should I then asume by that search that Fictionwise is distributing illegal copies (If I didn't know them to start)?

Out of curiousity I decided to take a known PD title in exactly the same context, "Animal Farm ebook" on Google. And there were torrent hits on the first page as well. And when you go to many of these sites it isn't as if they have "You are committing a crime" in bold brazen letters. In fact, many have "You are NOT committing a crime" in bold brazen letters, even though you are.

And that is assuming they have any idea when the author died. You could convince most people that John Grisham wrote his books a hundred years ago and that Alexander Dumas just agreed to cowrite a new series with J.K. Rowling.

-MJ

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Well, call me a cynical old so-and-so if you will, Zelda, but I'm afraid that I feel that it's unlikely that four books which can only be obtained as illegal eBooks are going to be "accidentally" uploaded anywhere.

I have a PDF version of The Hobbit. I did it myself, I scanned and OCR-ed the text and pictures, and formatted the PDF. I have several paper editions of The Hobbit in ~10 languages, so I don't feel there's any moral problem in my creating this PDF for my own, personal use.

I am, of course, not going to upload this file anywhere, but had I been a different person, I could have assumed that I was free to share it. A similar thing could have happend to whoever uploaded it to Feedbooks. Or it might have been an intentional act of piracy, who knows.

[HarryT]

[QUOTE=Jellby;316892]I have a PDF version of The Hobbit. I did it myself, I scanned and OCR-ed the text and pictures, and formatted the PDF. I have several paper editions of The Hobbit in ~10 languages, so I don't feel there's any moral problem in my creating this PDF for my own, personal use.

Totally agree with you.

I am, of course, not going to upload this file anywhere, but had I been a different person, I could have assumed that I was free to share it. A similar thing could have happend to whoever uploaded it to Feedbooks. Or it might have been an intentional act of piracy, who knows.

The fact that the person had to give false information in order to succeed in uploading it is, I think, highly suspicious. Plus, of course, the fact that they were flagrantly violating the terms of use of Feedbooks by doing so.