[OT]Re: Books...

[Yigal Chripun]

None here seem to see the real issue, IMO.
The torrent by itself should not be illegal. The true issue is the
copyright of the authors (please DON'T use the term intellectual
property since it's a term invited by the RIAA to spread FUD and has NO
real legal meaning).
What I want to ask is: Had I downloaded the book via the above torrent
and than sent a paycheck to the authors, would I still be violating the
copyright?
The issue is not people using torrents to download ebooks (which they
could do simply because they prefer this method of downloading). The
issue is people that do not respect the authors' copyright and violate
the law.
In the same way you can go to a library and use a copy-machine, thus
violating the copy-right of authors, that doesn't mean we should
disallow libraries.

I do see the problem in the above idealized argument, but the problem is
that the current situation was created by the very organizations who
represent content creators like the RIAA and MPAA. They have cultivated
this culture of disrespect towards the content creators via their
disrespect towards the users of the content and via their DRM schemes.
trust and respect goes both ways. This is why in free-software
communities copy-rights are always respected (via mutual respect and
trust instead of fear and DRM).

--Yigal