Casting the copyright wars as "it's wrong to steal" leaves out the whole cost to the consumer when the publishing industry uses the legal cover of copyright to keep a stranglehold on every copy of every title they sell, and to charge more for those titles into the bargain.
For example: If I buy a paperback book, I have a physical object. I can read it multiple times, I can lend it out to friends, I can put it in a lending library, I can sell it to a used bookstore. I own it. The publisher's rights stop at the point where I pull out the nice piece of plastic and hand it to the cashier. Sure, I can't go out and run off 100 copies, and hand them out on the street, but how often did that happen in the days of paper books anyway?
Now let's contrast that with a digital book bought from a Kindle. I have a single electronic copy of this title on my Kindle. I can't read it unless I have Kindle software to do so. I can't lend it, I can't sell it, and if my Kindle gets run over by a bus, I may not be able to get that book back. And to top it all off, Amazon has the power to yoink that title off my Kindle any time they want to. And, I'm paying premium prices for this lovely digital content, as well.
No, I don't own a Kindle. And I never will. Not because I'm a moustache-twirling digital pirate, but because when I buy a thing, it is mine. The publisher's rights should end when I hand over the plastic. They shouldn't have the right to tell me: No, you can't lend this title to a friend. No, you can't read this title in the way you choose. No, you have no right to back up this digital work unless it's in Our Cloud. No, you can't resell this title. No, no, no.
Why should I pay a premium for a restricted digital version of a book when I can pick up an unrestricted used paper copy for $3?
Why should I believe the publishing/recording/music industry's estimates of how badly they're affected by digital piracy?
Why should I accept artificial limits on what I'm allowed to do with things I've paid good money to own?
Why should I pay good money to companies that think that just because I'm buying something in digital form, they somehow have the right to dictate what I can do with it?
Yes, I'm angry. I've been angry for a good long time. This entire misbegotten circus parade of officious alphabet agencies spending billions of dollars to inflict ever-tighter lockdowns of content by waving the spectre of digital piracy has got to stop. It is ridiculous on the face of it. If they spent half the time and energy creating quality content with *reasonable* restrictions, they'd have back their claimed "losses", AND the money they have spent on lawyers and lawsuits, AND have money in the bank besides.
I'm sorry that you've encountered people ripping off your content, rolanni, and I still think that in general, copyright is a good thing. But more and more, copyright is being wielded like a hammer, bluntly and indiscriminately, to protect a series of industries who cannot conceive of a reasonable way to cope with digital content. We need more innovation, and fewer lawyers. Maybe then things will start to settle out.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mmmag
no subject
Date: 2012-01-29 09:46 pm (UTC)For example: If I buy a paperback book, I have a physical object. I can read it multiple times, I can lend it out to friends, I can put it in a lending library, I can sell it to a used bookstore. I own it. The publisher's rights stop at the point where I pull out the nice piece of plastic and hand it to the cashier. Sure, I can't go out and run off 100 copies, and hand them out on the street, but how often did that happen in the days of paper books anyway?
Now let's contrast that with a digital book bought from a Kindle. I have a single electronic copy of this title on my Kindle. I can't read it unless I have Kindle software to do so. I can't lend it, I can't sell it, and if my Kindle gets run over by a bus, I may not be able to get that book back. And to top it all off, Amazon has the power to yoink that title off my Kindle any time they want to. And, I'm paying premium prices for this lovely digital content, as well.
No, I don't own a Kindle. And I never will. Not because I'm a moustache-twirling digital pirate, but because when I buy a thing, it is mine. The publisher's rights should end when I hand over the plastic. They shouldn't have the right to tell me: No, you can't lend this title to a friend. No, you can't read this title in the way you choose. No, you have no right to back up this digital work unless it's in Our Cloud. No, you can't resell this title. No, no, no.
Why should I pay a premium for a restricted digital version of a book when I can pick up an unrestricted used paper copy for $3?
Why should I believe the publishing/recording/music industry's estimates of how badly they're affected by digital piracy?
Why should I accept artificial limits on what I'm allowed to do with things I've paid good money to own?
Why should I pay good money to companies that think that just because I'm buying something in digital form, they somehow have the right to dictate what I can do with it?
Yes, I'm angry. I've been angry for a good long time. This entire misbegotten circus parade of officious alphabet agencies spending billions of dollars to inflict ever-tighter lockdowns of content by waving the spectre of digital piracy has got to stop. It is ridiculous on the face of it. If they spent half the time and energy creating quality content with *reasonable* restrictions, they'd have back their claimed "losses", AND the money they have spent on lawyers and lawsuits, AND have money in the bank besides.
I'm sorry that you've encountered people ripping off your content,