Last month, the BBC ran an article called The Rights and Wrongs of Digital Books that discussed various aspects of ebooks and copyright issues that have concerned me, but seem to get glossed over in most discussions of the topic.
To start with, it's undeniably true that print books and ebooks aren't the same thing. They both contain content. However, unlike a print book which you actually own, an ebook isn't owned, but licensed.
As a legal matter, this puts limitations on its transferability. (Like a computer program. You never bootleg those, do you? :)) Thus, the creation of things like DRM protection. This is imposed much to the dismay of people who'd like to freely share ebooks the way they would print books, except ebooks aren't print books, are they?
This could lead to a whole discussion about piracy, but I know better than to go there. Some people couldn't care less about ebook piracy, others are appalled by it. Personally, I think if you obtain a free download of something you're supposed to pay for that's stealing. Period. Your comfort level with that is up to you, I guess.
The article concludes that we shouldn't treat (for legal purposes) "the products of creative expression" the same as "physical property." I think the main point is there's a big difference between a print book owner's rights and an ebook licensee's rights. We should stop pretending that difference isn't there and deal with it.
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