Re: Re: Ebook Pirate

From: "Jon Jermey"

> But once the book is in my possession then these are all 
> sunk costs.
> Nobody makes any more money whether I read the copy of The 
> Father Brown
> Stories on my shelf or not. And none of these people make 
> any money if I
> buy a second-hand copy of Cat Among the Pigeons from a 
> second-hand book
> shop or Amazon.
>
> So all this only applies if you want people to produce NEW 
> books. For
> the much larger number of books that have already been 
> published and
> distributed -- especially when the people who worked on 
> them are dead or
> untraceable -- access to them should either be free or 
> very cheap. And
> any attempts to restrict access to them should be treated 
> as an assault
> on free speech and sanctioned accordingly.
>
> Jon.
>

Well, perhaps. First, secondhand or no, you the reader 
cannot make a copy of the print book in the form you bought 
it -and photocopies usually cost more. There will exist only 
one copy of the print book you have bought.

Ebooks can be copied ad infinitum and the analogy does not 
hold water for that reason. As with photocopying you are 
breaching copyright law if you do make file copies. Common 
sense suggests that there are situations where copies for 
personal use are acceptable breaches. But it has become a 
complex area even there.

As to your comment on out of copyright works you are not 
being realistic. Someone has done the work of scanning and 
preparing any book you download. Gutenberg Press and one or 
two others are prepared to do that work without charging; so 
you may safely accept those copies for free. However these 
are in formats that are not that easy to read, and while 
some enjoy straight text and small screens few people seem 
to go for that.

If you want people to put in the work of making an out of 
copyright work nicely presented and readable then it is 
perfectly reasonable to expect to pay - in fact it is clear 
that such presentations will not be available if you don't. 
As to Torrent and other invitations breach activities they 
simply lack the morality that it is reasonable to expect of 
anybody in society.

But the idea that the net and digital technology makes 
taking without payment alright is not valid. I simply feel 
great gratitude for the wealth of material that is validly 
free and offered by those of generous heart.

Joseph Harris  -  Debt Control Man
author: Control Your Debt Crisis on Your Own Terms
blog: http://debtcontrolman.wordpress.com
site: http://www.controlyourdebtcrisis.co.uk
wiki: http://www.controlyourdebtcrisis.co.uk/debtwiki/
ezine: 
debtcrisisnews-subscribe-81qHHgoATdGiZAWpSjG6+Rq5H0TW4eMuLld22O+yBnhaa/[email protected] 



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