Over the weekend, the New York Times “Ethicist” wrote a rather controversial post defending the ethics of illegally downloading an e-book when you own the hardcover.
The Ethicist writes:
Your subsequent downloading is akin to buying a CD, then copying it to your iPod. Buying a book or a piece of music should be regarded as a license to enjoy it on any platform. Sadly, the anachronistic conventions of bookselling and copyright law lag the technology. Thus you’ve violated the publishing company’s legal right to control the distribution of its intellectual property, but you’ve done no harm or so little as to meet my threshold of acceptability.
Aside from being quite surprised that Ethicists are in the habit of encouraging people to break the law, I found this to be an astounding and irresponsible response.
It’s one thing for an Ethicist to remind a reader that they are within their ethical (and though I’m not a lawyer, likely legal) rights to create their own e-book by scanning their book into a computer strictly for personal and not-for-profit use. This is the proper CD-ripping analogy. It’s taking something you own and converting it to another format through your own time and effort, whether that’s making an electronic file or taking a book apart to wallpaper your house.
The fact is, buying a hardcover (or CD or DVD or paperback) does not grant someone the right to own a work in all platforms in perpetuity. I mean, this: “Buying a book or a piece of music should be regarded as a license to enjoy it on any platform” is an extraordinarily sweeping opinion. Any platform? Should we get the paperback for free when we buy the hardcover? Should we be able to get into the movie for free when we own the paperback? Those are just different platforms, right? Should I have shoplifted the DVDs when I switched over from my VHS collection? What exactly are we talking about here?
An e-book is a fundamentally different product than a hardcover – it’s searchable, it’s electronic, it’s portable, it doesn’t weigh anything. It allows you to do things that you can’t do with a hardcover. Not everyone obviously thinks it’s an improvement, but I think we can all agree that it’s a different product. They may be the same words, but it most definitely is not the same thing.
It may seem like it’s a trivial distinction to make when the resulting file from scanning yourself vs. pirating a book is potentially almost the same, but that’s where the line between ethical/legal and unethical/illegal is drawn for a reason. In the first version, you’re adding the value yourself through your own effort (just as taking notes in your own margins adds a form of value). By downloading a file illegally you’re misappropriating that added value from the only people (the publisher and author and e-booksellers) who are legally and ethically entitled to profit from it. That’s why we have copyright law. That’s where we’ve chosen to draw the line.
This is all completely setting aside the question of whether publishers should bundle hardcovers and e-books for sale – lots of people have expressed a desire for a situation where you, say, pay $2 or $4 or however much more for a hardcover and get the e-book for free. It’s a great idea! I suspect the fact that isn’t yet possible for most books is because of the logistical challenges involved, but it’s one that I hope publishers will continue to explore (see Joseph Selby’s comment for more background, and Mayowa points out that B&N has announced they would experiment with bundling).
But the fact that it’s not yet possible as a matter of course doesn’t then justify theft – I mean, I personally think it’s a great idea for supermarkets to sell peanut butter and jelly together for a discount, but if my local supermarket doesn’t do this it doesn’t mean I get to shoplift the jelly.
This is also setting aside the justifications people come up with when it comes to piracy – that people buy more when they pirate, that piracy does not necessarily equal loss of sale, that stealing a digital product is not the same thing as stealing a tangible object etc. etc. Look: we live in a society where the seller gets to determine the terms of sale. If it really is financially advantageous to allow things to be readily available for free or very cheaply or unencumbered with DRM let the sellers (the publishers and the authors and booksellers) make that decision. If it’s better financially for the parties involved, let the market move in that direction. Support the companies who have policies you like with your dollars, not through illegal activity.
The electronic era is full of possibility as well as potential downfalls, and I think we need to get past the idea that an electronic format is value-less relative to print. It has value. It is a different product. You can add that value yourself by converting something you bought, or you can pay for a new file.
If you’re stealing that value by downloading someone else’s e-book illegally: it’s copyright infringement.
It really is a matter of ethics. Oh. Also the law.
J.J. Bennett says
Just as I posted last night under "publishing". I think the bundle idea is the future. It makes the most sense. (Both for customers and for publishing houses.) When you buy the hardcover you are buying the rights to use the book like a computer program. They give you a code and you download the digital version you need. End of story.
Amanda P. says
I totally agree. I'm a photographer and people seem to feel they have the right to scan and print as much as they want because they've bought a 4×6. Um, no. Wrong.
Same thing here.
So, yeah, I agree.
Jess Tudor says
I GET where the Ethicist was coming from – that legality and ethics are not one in the same, but he definitely needed to extrapolate more because the sweeping generalization was so far off the mark, even while upholding his distinction. You're right about the added value and the manner in which one converts the property. Did this guy really think through his answer? As an Ethicist, he has to see the fallacies being pointed out all over by you and others. I took Ethics, and while I'm no PhD, it seems ridiculously obvious that legality aside, it's still unethical.
GK says
Well put. I read the article and was doing my flail about it but was unable to articulate coherently about the reasons for my flail. You did so nicely.
Kia Abdullah says
I'm not sure about this one.
Daryl Sedore says
I absolutely agree. The analogy of a hardcover purchased then receive the paperback free was spot on.
Also loved the format argument about being able to see the movie free and shoplift DVD's after having bought and owned all those VHS.
You seriously owned this side of the debate. Well done.
Scott says
This is a frustrating topic for me as a consumer. Yes, I understand copyright law and licensing but the consumer is getting lost in the middle. Yes, the solution is too bundle but until that happens people like myself who prefer buying an actual bound book to read and the only reason I would ever read an ebook is because I wasn't able to lug the 600 page hardback I bought last week onto a plane and it would have been nice to be able to read an ebook on my mac during the flight but I'm unwilling to spend $15 extra to enjoy that convenience. And don't get me started on DRM for ebooks. But that said, I really think the feature the B&N Reader has where you can lend an ebook to a friend for 14 days is a great feature.
Joseph L. Selby says
Bundling book purchases and ebooks has actually been done by some publishers for many years. Baen springs immediately to mind. They were offering ebooks a decade ago and continue to do so.
The reason why publishers don't do it is because of security concerns and added cost. Previously, ebooks were PDFs and then mobi files. PDF piracy is still a problem. Add to that the distribution method (bundle a CD? include a flash drive? print a code in the back of the book?) and it wasn't worth the return. Many still feel the same.
As for the shoplifting the DVD thing, we talked on that yesterday. Shame on you for making that comparison a second time. It's a false comparison. DVDs are replicated, shipped, stored, and put in stores for purchase. Lots of people pay lots of money to send them to market. The pirated ebook the ethicist speaks of is a scanned copy of a book that is downloaded directly from a third-party. A case can be made for encouraging piracy, but shoplifting a DVD is not the same and you knew it before you made the post.
(As a side note, many of the features you mention on an ebook aren't available in scanned pirated copies. They're pictures that don't identify text. It's just an image to read and nothing more.)
Josin L. McQuein says
I'm with JJ Bennett on this one.
I think all hardbacks should automatically include an e-book download the way most Disney DVD's now include a digital copy as well.
You can't draw a parallel with getting a book and the movie version. The movie version isn't just another format of the same material, nor is it owned by the same individual. It's usually a different presentation of the same idea, but not exactly true to the book. It's like having to pay for 2 bands' versions of the same song.
You can make a copy of the CD you already have, but if you want the 2nd band's version, you have to buy it because it's licensed to someone else.
Nathan Bransford says
joseph –
I didn't make the analogy you're accusing me of making. I'm not talking about theft vs. piracy with that analogy. The Ethicist said you're entitled to all platforms when you buy a book or music (and presumably movies), so presumably we are entitled to upgrade our DVDs for all those VHS.
A Paperback Writer says
It seems to me that you and this ethics columnist have very different definitions of the concept of "platform," and that is why you disagree. Both arguments are well-stated, but with two definitions, they cannot come to a compromise.
Nathan Bransford says
Also, re: this quote: "It's a false comparison. DVDs are replicated, shipped, stored, and put in stores for purchase. Lots of people pay lots of money to send them to market."
PLENTY of people pay money to put an e-book on the market. E-booksellers have to create the infrastructure. Publishers have to pay conversion and they have to pay authors. You're depriving them of money they are entitled to for building this infrastructure. You're not stealing an object they can't then sell, but you're still depriving them of money for which they are legally entitled, and it's false to say there are no costs involved. Lots of people pay money to send e-books to market too.
Mercurio Cavaldi says
What I'd like to see happen is publishers including a link to download the e-book if you buy the hardcover. Most vinyl records, for instance, include a link and special code where you can download the MP3 version of the album. This way you don't have to illegally download the album or buy it again on iTunes.
Margaret Yang says
I read that NYT article yesterday and it bothered me but I couldn't put my finger on exactly why. Thank you for articulating the salient points.
Glen Akin says
Lol first off, buying a product in one format does NOT give anyone the right to illegally download said product in a different format. That's like saying cos you bought a Toshiba laptop then you have the right to steal another Toshiba laptop, but this time, it's a green laptop.
And the idea that publishers will put links to ebooks in hardcovers is absurd. Why the hell would anyone do that? How is that business effective?
Tracy says
I think in the future we'll be able to buy the e-book version as extras. Like when I bought my copy of New Moon and got the extras along with it. I paid slightly more for that version, but I got the bonuses I wanted. Maybe someday in the future they'll figure out how to do that.
Until then it is going to be a particularly tricky road.
I don't, personally, think the person in question was wrong. I'm more bothered by the fact that there was a pirated version easily accessible for him.
Anonymous says
If we go to a model where you purchase and own lifetime cross-platform rights to intellectual property (music, books, videos), as is the model promoted by The Ethicist, then we'll have to price these products accordingly.
Hardcover fiction books for $60 anyone? Remember, it will get you the paperback, ebook, vbook (yet to be published), entrance to the movie version, and anything else that comes along.
If this becomes the model then the copyrighted material must be priced much higher — otherwise there is no way for the artist to make a living, and without compensation we must accept the drop off in choice and quality that will inevitably be the outcome of such a model.
I'll pay for each copy of a work I read. I want my favorite authors to continue producing.
betcherjl says
If Mr. Ethics had personally scanned his entire hard cover copy of the book so he could read it electronically, I would agree with him. That's "fair use" under copyright laws. You can make copies of stuff you own for your personal use. It's like copying CDs to your iPod. You do it yourself.
But when he chooses to buy the hard cover book to HAVE IT NOW, and then steals the digital version, which was not available for sale at the time he wanted the book NOW, and which someone else has already pirated, just so he can HAVE IT CONVENIENT, he not only encourages pirating, but violates the author's/publisher's right to be paid for making the book CONVENIENT. That's why pirating is illegal AND immoral.
He needs to pay twice.
Mayowa says
This one is a toughie…
I'm not even sure bundling is going to work in the future. The extras you get with say a Star Wars boxset differ from an ebook as an extra to a hardcover.
You can read the ebook alone and not need the hardcover but watching the artists dress up Jabba without seeing the movies is pretty pointless.
I'm going to go with Nathan on this one. Pirates already do an excellent job of rationalizing their actions, we don't need this fella stoking the fire.
Derrick says
I don't get why publishing in a bundle is so hard. There's a Book called Strength finder that comes with a code that you can ender into a website to get your personalized PDF file.
Now, I understand that theft may be an issue, but how hard is it to just have the code print up with the receipt or something. Then you go out and to such-and-such's website and download the book based on your code that you've been given.
Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy.
J.J. Bennett says
BTW I don't agree that it was right to download the book illegally. I just think the issue needs to be cut and dry. There seems too many problems getting the format people want with all the choices out there. To simplify the process only makes sense.
Darius McCaskey says
Whether we agree with the NY Times article or not, there's a fact that writers and publishers must face: readers who have paid for a book feel entitled to that same text in a digital format. Many otherwise honest readers, when faced with no options, will resort to piracy to obtain the works they want to read in the format they want to read them in.
"What are we selling?" seems to be the real question. Do publishers sell wood pulp, ink, and glue? Or do they sell words, crafted into stories, poems, technical manuals, and the like?
I believe publishers sell words. Those words have happened to be printed on paper and bound into volumes for the last few hundred years or so. But we are at a time of change. No doubt Gutenberg's invention caused a similar controversy in the establishment of his time. The challenge for publishers now is to build solutions, not barriers, that bring more writers to more readers in a faster, more flexible (and yet still profitable) way.
Perhaps one way is to offer additional content in an electronic edition in the same vein as a special edition or director's cut DVD. This adds value to the eBook and makes it less "ethical" to pirate. The main problem with eBooks is that many readers don't consider them to have additional value beyond the text. To the reader, the digital copy is exactly the same as the print copy, only in a different form. Take some of that perception away, and you increase the likelihood of eBook purchases and detract from eBook piracy.
Corinne says
I think bundling is a fab idea. It would make their product more marketable as we continue to move toward more digital means of consuming books.
I think Nathan is totally on the money with the hardcover/paperback/DVD analogy. The author states we should be entitled across all platforms…
If the DVD analogy is problematic (although I cannot see why), what about audiobooks? Unabridged audiobooks, specifically. Those are really expensive and time intensive to produce and buy and they are a verbatim copy of the text… I have yet to hear anyone crying foul because they are entitled to a free audio download too.
I think that when you walk in to a bookstore and purchase a book, you do so with the understanding that you're buying only a book. Unless it says it is a package deal, how can you demand more or justify stealing another copy in any form?
Mary McDonald says
Amanda, my husband is a photographer too,(mostly sports) and posts the pictures on a website for sale with watermarks across the picture. He ran into the father of one of the athletes whose game he'd done, and asked the man if he had any trouble getting to the website. The guy was like, "Oh no, the pictures were great, but how do I get your logo off all of them?"
Uh, ya buy them! Duh!
As far as the bundling of hardcover and ebooks, I think that would be wonderful. I can't wait until I get a real e-reader someday.
sex scenes at starbucks says
Right now I think consumers should pay for each format.
In the future (say in a decade or so), much as book-o-philes resist it–myself among them, I think it won't matter. EBooks will be the norm like digital music is rapidly becoming the norm, and people will have to go extra lengths to buy a paper book. (Heck, you might even get a paper copy for a $10 upgrade on your electronic purchase.)
Reena Jacobs says
I definitely think authors/artists should be paid for their work. I also understand the comparison the Ethicist made between taking a CD and transferring to different media versus print versions and transferring it to different media.
However, I think the Ethicist missed a key aspect. When transferring a CD to a Zune, iPod or whatever, the owner of the CD uses a personal CD to transfer to a personal device. They're not taking their CD and transferring it to other people's platforms. At least they shouldn't be.
Downloading illegal versions of print book is doing just that. People are taking their print version scanning it or just using their eBooks version and distributing it to others.
If an owner of a book wants to transcribe or scan a print version for their own use, that's fine. It's when they start providing it to others that things go wrong.
Likewise, individuals who illegally download digital versions of music, books, etc are in the wrong. If an individual wants to take the print version and read it on a mini-device, it's up to that individual to make his/her own private digital copy from his/her print version for personal use only.
Ashley A. says
Intellectual property, schmintelluh… uh… whatever.
Right?
Methinks the real "ethicist" went on spring break.
Mira says
Nathan, I absolutely agree with you, and I find the "ethicist's" argument outrageous.
Bundling, although a good idea, is beside the point. The consumer has no right to steal for the sake of convenience or price.
At heart, this is a content vs. format issue.
When a consumer buys a book, they own the format, the book. They do NOT own the content. That's made completely clear though copyright law. So, to say they are entitled to the content in another form is wrong.
There's an implied contract between the buyer and the author – an ethical one – because the buyer understands the author copyrighted their work and doesn't want it copied.
Violating that is unethical, it was part of the understanding when the book was sold.
Are all laws ethical? Not by a long shot. Is it ever ethical to steal? I believe so – in survival situations – a starving child, etc.
But stealing a book's content? No. That's never ethical.
Stealing an e-book is stealing.
Mira says
Better way to say it:
Change:
"because the buyer understands the author copyrighted their work and doesn't want it copied."
to
"because the buyer understands the author copyrighted their work and still OWNS the content."
Matthew Rush says
This is a very interesting debate. I'm not sure why but I tend to support Nathan's point of view with books even though if I already own an album on vinyl (I own thousands) I would not have a problem (theoretically) downloading it for free from the internet.
Could I record it to my computer from my turntable and create a CD though my own effort? Yes. Should I have to? I'm not sure.
I guess maybe because with the book side of things the e-book is such a different format it feels like paying again seems justifiable. Yes vinyl and CD are very different but the actual music you hear is pretty close.
With the book sure it's the same story but Nathan points out a lot of advantages to e-books, such as search-ability, links and so forth.
Just my two cents.
Amy says
If I have purchased the hardcover, then, could I just walk in to a bookstore and leave with a free paperback of said title – just cos I already purchased it in another format? Or is he just saying that it's all right to steal electronic versions because there's no value in that?
If there's no value in it, why do people want it? Why bother?
I love the bundling ideas. Someone is bound to try it on large scale, and hopefully their sales will do well enough to encourage others to hop on board.
I do think someone needs to come up with another word besides "piracy". Engaging in "piracy" almost sounds cool. A lot of people think stealing is wrong but see no problem with piracy. Doesn't make sense to me.
Anonymous says
"Whether we agree with the NY Times article or not, there's a fact that writers and publishers must face: readers who have paid for a book feel entitled to that same text in a digital format."
That's exactly the problem – people now have this huge sense of entitlement. It doesn't matter whether they have paid for the product – and a digital version is a product, seperate from paper – or not. They want and so they think they just have a grand right to it. What about the people who actually own those rights? They shouldn't be entitled to them simply because someone else wants what they want, free and now.
Just like one poster said, they wanted the hardcover because they like to hold an actual book, but they also wanted an e-book to read on the plane. It's two seperate products to meet two distinct desires. Whether or not stealing prevents the actual owner from being able to sell the product or not, the people doing it have stolen from the people who did the work.
Yvonne Osborne says
Sadly, the "Ethicist" sees copyright law as anachronistic. No harm done? Really? I like your analogy and might try that the next time I go to the movies. I'll just present my receipt from the bookseller's as my license to enjoy the movie at no additional cost to me.
Malia Sutton says
I absolutely agree. And if this were to go to court, the laws would have to be followed regardless of anyone's opinion, emotional response, or what they think they deserve when they buy a book in hard cover.
M.R.J. Le Blanc says
Like I said elsewhere, stealing is stealing. He didn't buy an ebook version, he bought a hardcover. That doesn't entitle him under his ridiculous reasoning. I kind of like J.J. Bennett's idea of bundling though.
Stephen Prosapio says
Oh yeah. I went to a U2 concert once; therefore any song I heard them perform, I'm entitled to own in any format I deem fit.
No wait. That's not right. Any song I think they *should* have played at that concert, I can ethically steal. Yeah. Yeah. That's the ticket.
Anonymous says
People will pirate when it makes economic sense, not because it's right or wrong or illegal or legal.
Going after pirates won't stop them. We have seen the backlash the RIAA got when they took that approach.
Using DRM won't work. Pirates will just break it.
So it comes down to making it more economical for someone to purchase the product than to pirate it. And with the recent price increases for eBooks combined with the iPad sales over the weekend, I think we are going in the wrong direction.
We now have a larger pool of potential pirates with a 30% increase in DRM eBooks. Yeah, eBook piracy will go up.
Nathan Bransford says
anon-
It becomes a purely economical decision when people have detached the question from ethics, right/wrong, and fairness. Some people have already talked themselves into that, but many others haven't – I could very easily pirate anything I wanted, but I choose not to because I believe in supporting artists. It's not an economic decision for me, it's an ethical one.
That's why I was so disturbed by the Ethicist's post. Stigma and personal morality and ethics should continue to be a weapon against piracy, and it's shocking to me that someone supposedly devoted to Ethics would be so cavalier about it.
Malia Sutton says
Anon@ 11:54 said "So it comes down to making it more economical for someone to purchase the product than to pirate it. And with the recent price increases for eBooks combined with the iPad sales over the weekend, I think we are going in the wrong direction."
This sounds good, and you'd think it would work. However, the sad fact is that thousands of digital books are being pirated in all genres, not just the most popular. Some of these books are priced at 1.99 – 6.99. I've even seen romance novels priced at .99 being pirated. And you can't get cheaper than this.
These people don't care about price. They know they can get it for free and that's all they care about.
Anonymous says
I think it all depends on whether the pirated version was a pirated e-book, i.e. a pirated version of something one should actually be able to buy, or a scanned copy of the print book, something which is not separately for sale nor ever will be. If it's a scanned copy of the print edition, I'm with The Ethicist, since the guy could have made that himself from his print copy and hence is not cheating anyone out of anything (if he didn't own the print copy, it wouldn't be ethical, though). If it's a pirated purpose-made e-book which has extra features and is a different product intended to be sold separately, then it is unethical.
Jason says
I've always thought that this came down to DRM/Restrictions. That is, are you somehow artificially preventing me from using what I paid for in a different way? I think DVDs are the best example. If I buy a DVD, I'd like to be able to make a digital copy of it. And while I know Disney does this to an extent, it's still not perfect. If I buy a DVD for my kids, I want to be able to make a digital copy that I can play through my XBOX (via a USB drive loaded up with movies) and on the DVD player in my car (which will also play movies via USB/flash drives). I get that I can use the real DVD for this, but it's simpler just to be able to — for example — turn on my xbox and choose from 10 or 15 different movies rather than using my DVD player. I can easily make a digital copy of a CD to use on my MP3 player, why should DVDs be any different?
I think e-books are a little different. Obviously, e-books are not generally DRM free, but I guess I don't feel that they restrict my use in the same way. I don't buy a paperback with the expectation of being able to transfer it to a different format. I don't care about moving e-books around to different computers because I have a Kindle, and reading them on the Kindle is pretty much the point. I know I can't share them with friends, but to me that's part of the price you pay for e-books: you pay less for them, but you can't sell them back and you can't pass them on. That's the deal you make when buying an e-book.
I’m not sure if that's sensible, or if it's just my own personal morality. I think the big issue now is e-book pricing: for me, part of the bargain is that I'm paying less in exchange for giving up some rights. I actually think that increasing the e-book price point will increase piracy more than anything else ….
ryan field says
I agree 100%.
Anonymous says
@Nathan:
I was shocked by his column given his audience. We should not be telling people it's okay to pirate.
I think the stigma stuff went away when folks started foreclosing on their homes instead of sticking it out and doing the right thing. Would we have seen all these foreclosures fifty years ago? I think we are far more economically centered than we acknowledge in polite company.
@Malia:
We will always have pirates. We just want to minimize the number that we have. I think the iTunes pricing of a dollar a song did a pretty good job for the record labels. I now attribute their loses to not having enough good songs per record, so instead of making $11 for a record, they might make only $4 since people don't like the other songs. But this is a non-issue for books.
Kathryn Packer Roberts says
Very well said. You sure you DON'T want to be a lawyer for our side? =0
M.J.B. says
I'll soon be re-buying certain books for my Nook, because I really don't like the idea of lugging around big hardcover books anymore (think "The Stand"). As much as it sucks, it's perfectly fine that I should be re-buying eBooks for books I owned in hard copy before the Nook overtook my life. I will only be buying eBooks in the future anyway, so the question of buying a hardcover with possible links to eBook downloads is moot for me. Still, it would be very forward thinking for publishers to provide this convenience as eBooks become more and more mainstream. Otherwise, people might do what I did, once I knew I was getting a Nook for Christmas: they could hold off on buying hard copy books altogether and instead wait until they can budget for a Nook, Kindle, or iPad.
Piracy is piracy, regardless, but here is something: Disney (and I believe soon Universal) Blu Ray releases now include a DVD copy of the film. These companies know DVDs are going away, just as VHS movies did, but they are catering to both early and late adopters in one package. Smart move, and it does not make the buyer double dip, which helps bring them back. We have to look at purchasing this stuff in new ways.
Also, in response to Reena about copying a personal CD to a personal device as opposed to copying it to someone else's platform: copying a CD to an iPod is indeed copying it to another person (or company's) platform. It is Apple's iPod platform, because iPods are an extremely convenient way to experience your purchased music without having to lug around the CD. You are changing the nature of the way you listen to it by copying it, just as someone who wants a free eBook wants to change the nature of how those words appear in front of his or her eyes. Technically, if we are to hold up the "they are two separate entities" argument, we should have major problems with buying a CD and then copying it into Mp3 format for free. We can't buy the Mp3s and then expect a hard copy CD, can we? Aren't they different platforms, and shouldn't they remain completely independent of one another?
Maybe not. Times are changing!
Brian says
I pretty much agree with you, but I have no trouble with the distinction between legal and ethical. Good ethics don't always make good law. To choose one extreme example, Rosa Parks broke the law to help make the country more ethical. We all routinely break the law. (Who among us drives the speed limit and not one mile-per-hour faster?) But I don't agree with The Ethicist's claim that breaking this law is ethical for the reasons you outline.
Josin L. McQuein says
quote:
And the idea that publishers will put links to ebooks in hardcovers is absurd. Why the hell would anyone do that? How is that business effective?
For the same reason it works with DVD's. Those who would wait for the digital versions to come out are more likely to splurge on a physical copy if they get a digital one included in the price. They can always give the physical copy as a gift after the digital one is released.
Also, it satisfies those who would probably go in search of a file sharing site even if they bought the physical copy. They get a guilt-free download. (Those downloads would only work once; they can't be used by say 20 people on different computers, and they're DRM protected.)
Anonymous says
@Nathan, re: the baseball bat: However, if what the guy downloaded is a scanned copy of the print version (rather than a pirated purpose-made e-book), it is not like shop-lifting a baseball bat. It's like accepting a hand-carved bat from a guy on the street-corner who is giving out free hand-carved replicas of the same baseball bat you already own.
Marilyn Peake says
I agree with you. I read the Ethicist’s article yesterday, and spent some time wondering why ethics and morals seem to be changing radically within public forums. I think we’re living in an era in which so many people feel cheated by the big corporations, ripping off the corporations is beginning to come into vogue as morally and ethically acceptable. I discovered MAD MEN last week, and watched the first season. Set in the fifties, one of the main characters extols the virtues of Ayn Rand's philosophy, and most of the main characters practice her philosophy. I read a couple of Ayn Rand novels years ago: ATLAS SHRUGGED and THE FOUNTAINHEAD. She believes in selfishness, even writing a book entitled The Virtue of Selfishness. Although I don’t believe she admires theft, I think many people are beginning to see theft as OK, perhaps because they feel that big corporations have taken money away from them. I’ve seen descriptions of executives responsible for our recent economic meltdown described as MAD MEN. I’m just thinking out loud. Like you, I was rather shocked by the Ethicist’s article. I have great respect for Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development in which selfishness, or even obeying the law simply out of fear of punishment, are considered only the first stage in a child’s moral development.
Nathan Bransford says
anon-
I know what you're getting at, but I don't accept your analogy either. I realize that pirating a digital copy is not quite the same thing as stealing a physical copy because you're theoretically not depriving someone of a tangible object that they can then no longer sell. But you're still depriving a legal vendor of a sale, and if it's coming at the expense of a hardcover sale you might as well be stealing the actual hardcover because bookstores don't always sell out and the hardcover may well be pulped.
So it's not like a guy handing out replica bats out of the goodness of his heart. I still think it's closer to theft, even if I accept that it's not exactly the same thing.