[LINK] A Definition Of Piracy In The Digital Age

[Michael Skeggs mike@bystander.net]

On 06/02/2009, Lea de Groot <lealink at viking.org.au> wrote:
>
>
> Piracy is simply a breech of the defined Terms of Use of the content
> in question.
> No one ever said we couldn't pass old paperbacks around, so that isn't
> piracy.
> The TOS of (most) e-books say the same can't be done, so sending on a
> copy IS piracy.
>

Since the original was a quote from me ;-)
How about a scanned copy of a whole paper text book? No TOS breach there,
but the publishers would undoubtedly like us to see that as piracy. That
said, I remember several years ago an attempt by publishers (or was it music
publishers?) to extort some sort of fee from 2nd hand sales.
That this was laughed away by just about everyone is instructive of the
public's understanding of IP issues.
That is, they definitely know what they reject - an attempt by the original
supplier trying to claim additional fees after they have paid for a work
once, but there is no agreement on how to equitably apply this to digital
files.
Regards,
Michael Skeggs