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Monday, 5th April 2010

New York Times: "The Ethicist" on Ethics of Downloading Pirated eBook

Below is a small portion of a response by Randy Cohen (he writes "The Ethicist" column in the NY Times Magazine) dealing with a reader submitted question about an ethical issue regarding the downloading of a pirated eBook version of a Stephen King novel.

The reader points out: 1) They already purchased the print version of the book; 2) eBook version was not yet available; 3) They wanted the eBook to take on a trip versus traveling with the 1074 page printed version.

From "The Ethicist" Response:

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.

Unsurprisingly, many in the book business take a harder line. My friend Jamie Raab, the publisher of Grand Central Publishing and an executive vice president of the Hachette Book Group, says: “Anyone who downloads a pirated e-book has, in effect, stolen the intellectual property of an author and publisher. To condone this is to condone theft.”

Complete Answer to eBook Question from the "The Ethicist" (via New York Times Magazine (3/29/10)

Source: NYT

See Also: Access Archive of Past Columns from "The Ethicist"


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