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0 pointssosborn3y ago0 comments

>You simply can't hijack every instantiation to involve a transaction.

IMO, you shouldn't hijack someone else's work to make it free. If the person creating it wants it to be distributed freely, they have the option to make it so.

> You can't get the phone without a transaction happening.

This is also the case (not always) for a book, because the creation has a cost. Again, the author can choose to make it free, but they should also be free to charge a fee for it. It's pretty arrogant to take that choice away from them.

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2 comments · 1 top-level

thomastjeffery3y ago· 1 in thread

I'm not taking anything out hijacking anyone. I'm not here to talk about whether piracy is or isn't moral. Believe it or not, that's totally irrelevant.

The cold hard truth is that an author can't choose to make their book free, because they can't choose to make it - the book itself - cost.

Books aren't individual objects anymore. They cost nothing to reproduce. They cost nothing to redistribute. Any value we assign to a book can be infinitely diluted by anyone at any time, because it's free and instantaneous for them to make new copies and share them.

It's pretty arrogant to tell authors that copyright will provide any guarantee to protect their income. It doesn't. It can't.

It's pretty arrogant to blame the death of copyright on piracy. Piracy is not the cause, it's the result. It's not the knife, it's the open wound.

sosbornOP3y ago

This point of view ignores the fact that books have a cost to create, unless you think they just wave their hands and the content comes out fully formed.

> It's pretty arrogant to tell authors that copyright will provide any guarantee to protect their income. It doesn't. It can't.

> It's pretty arrogant to blame the death of copyright on piracy. Piracy is not the cause, it's the result. It's not the knife, it's the open wound.

I have made no comments about either of these subjects, so I don't see how it is relevant.

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