The morality of circumventing geographical restrictions only to buy cheaper ebooks

[Katsunami]

Oh, and regarding geo-restrictions:

Come on. It is not 1961 anymore, where physical products need to be shipped from country to country, or need to be reprinted or recreated in other countries than the one it originated in.

Nowadays, a lot of media is digital, and can therefore be provided immediately. The original language of the ebook should be available for immediate purchase and download worldwide, in any shop that wants to sell it, and for any consumer that wants to buy it. An English version should follow in short order if at all possible.

That people who want it translated to Swahili need to wait longer, or that you can't buy the Swahili version outside that country would be understandable.

[ucfgrad93]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I frankly can't be arsed to jump the geo-restrictive fence for any reason. I'm too lazy. If I can't buy it loud 'n' proud with the I.P. address God (in conjunction with my ISP) assigned me and with a physical address I actually reside at, I'm not buying it. Period.

Morals, shmorals.

Same with me. There are too many books out there that I want to read. If it isn't available, then I move on to something else.

[xendula]

As someone who reads books/watches movies/listens to music in various languages, georestrictiins directly impact me every time I want to buy content. Just wanted to throw it out there that georestrictions impede multilingual content consumption.

I have zero moral problems circumventing artificial georestrictions to get content - and the language I read a book in may depend on the price of the book in the various languages. The only thing that makes me mad is when I read a series and the publisher decided it's a good idea to change the character names in that language.

[HansTWN]

I agree with those who think it is immoral to charge some people 50% more than others. Our customers wouldn't stand for it (they compare prices in various countries), so why should I? Why should buying from another country be immoral and price shopping within the same city or country not be? Makes no sense to me, that is what the internet does best. I also realize that our local market is not attractive for English language book sellers. So I just take the few minor steps and get my books from the US stores. If I took the principled stand of some here "they don't want to sell to me at a decent price then I just won't buy it" then I wouldn't be reading many of the books I want to get. Now that would be kicking myself to spite others.

[Istvan diVega]

Originally Posted by caleb72

There is a setting on your account that allows you to change your current country/address. I believe it exists so that when you are travelling in the US you are able to simply change your country settings and purchase US ebooks. It is not against any policy to do this, but because it's simply a setting you can change there is nothing that prevents you doing it whether you are travelling or not.

But presumably every Amazon customer has that setting, whether or not they live in a country which has an actual Amazon store. I certainly have that setting and every time I want to buy something heavy or bulky I switch to my alternate address, which is a US address provided to me by a freight company based in New Jersey.

That it might have something to do with travelling has really never occurred to me.

[Kretzer]

Originally Posted by Istvan diVega

There are certainly books which have been "translated" from UK to US English. I can't remember which books I've encountered (as my memory is seriously defective), but I know I've bought US editions of books originally published in the UK a few times by mistake and had to re-buy them in the correct version.

The Harry Potter books are, as the most prominent example. They even changed the title of the first book, obviously thinking that "Philosopher's Stone" was too complex for American kids.


Edit: Oops, sorry, I hadn't realized that was mentioned before (skipped a page, I think ...).
Anyway, I also find these "translations" silly. Even as a non-English speaker I like it, when the language reflects the regional and cultural differences. Th setting of Harry Potter is very British, so why shouldn't the language be? Changing the words changes the feeling of a book.
I'm sure, even kids can cope with the differences. We had it with different shades of German all the time and never minded. On the contrary, it enriches the experience and the language skills.

[cromag]

And, since the Harry Potter books were released in England before they were available in the US, quite a few American fans bought them from English mail order businesses.

[EstherJH]

I did do this for a few books. I find it ridiculous that I need to pay more for the same book (in English) when I'm located in Holland than when my address is in the US. Amazon did call me on this :-) so I had to change the address again, but that's fine. I don't do this for every book. It's just when I'm not allowed to buy it (which is even more outrageous) or when the price difference is too big (in my opinion)

[abookreader]

I have done it in the past. I don't do it nearly as often now because I've just gotten tired of playing the pricing and availability games over and over with some of the publishers and authors. I was considering it last week with a book that is currently available in the UK that I could get from Amazon for $5.41 and have been reading it over the weekend.

Or I can wait for the US version that is coming mid-September and pay $9.99. US doesn't have it the worst though because I saw a few regions who are going to be paying up to $12.99.

But I just decided to wait because since my library has every other title in this series I imagine they'll get this one and so I'll read their copy and pay nothing.

This topic has always kind of fascinated me. If I wanted to I could have ordered a paper book from Amazon.UK and had it shipped to my home and nobody would be telling me that's immoral and there'd be no claims that Amazon will close my account if the "catch me."

[Mivo]

Originally Posted by EstherJH

It's just when I'm not allowed to buy it (which is even more outrageous) or when the price difference is too big (in my opinion)

If a publisher or exclusive vendor is not wanting to sell a book to me because of my location, then they won't get my money at all. I would never jump through hoops to be allowed to give a seller my money. It should be them going out of their way to get my money. There's no shortage of books to buy.

Yes, I'm stubborn like a donkey when it comes to this (or if they only let me buy translations but not the English originals, as was the case with iBooks and the Neverwinter Saga).

[xendula]

Originally Posted by EstherJH

Amazon did call me on this :-) so I had to change the address again, but that's fine.

What happened?

[GreenMonkey]

If it's morally OK and legal to manufacture something in China, or Mexico, or wherever, and import it here to sell, it's OK to do it yourself.

The same applies for digital content before someone makes that argument.

If it's OK to have a team of software engineers in India writing your code, it's OK for you to import it.

My only reason for buying (instead of borrowing or copyright-infringing-download) is to support the author. Hopefully a purchase from other copyright-abiding countries would do that.

Honestly I haven't bothered using a VPN for something like this yet, but I can see doing it.

[Xanthe]

I wouldn't circumvent solely to save money. I think I'd circumvent if there was a book out there that I really wanted that I couldn't get in my home market, though.

But then, that takes effort and I'm so darn lazy....

[speakingtohe]

many years ago I bought a book that had CAD $3.99 and AUS $7.99 pricing on the back. The Australian dollar was worth about CAD $150 I think. This book was almost 3 times as expensive in Australia. (I live in Canada). I was rater shocked and feeling sorry for the Australian readers.

If I lived in Australia I would be circumventing I am sure. The Australian government is all for it I have read.

Myself I wouldn't bother for fiction books (too many choices of books to read already), and probably not for price either on non-fiction unless we were talking big numbers.

But in the past (pre internet) I have gone to great lengths to get obscure or out of print nonfiction books. Dozens of hours on buses going to different libraries, and bookstores. Felt like I struck gold when I did manage to find one though

Helen

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

If I lived in Australia...

I've seen Australia come up more than a few times in a bad way, with regard to (e)book pricing and availability. What-da-frack is going on down there?