From the Shatzkin Files:
The New York Times published two apparently unrelated articles over the weekend which address questions raised by the rise of digital content creation and distribution. One was an op-ed piece in the Saturday paper by author Mark Aronson about the challenge of collecting the permissions necessary to include copyrighted material in enhanced ebooks. On Sunday, the Magazine published a piece by Randy Cohen, “The Ethicist”, about the rights and wrongs of downloading a pirated book file in a situation where the file’s acquirer had already bought and paid for a copy of the book presented in the file.
These are both thoughtful pieces to which I hope to add some useful observations.
iPod analogy
The Ethicist argues that downloading a pirated digital version of a book that you’ve already purchased on paper “is akin to buying a CD, then copying it to your iPod.” But that’s only if you scan the book itself. This actual scenario still involves — and supports a market for — a 3rd-party pirate.
Market
There is no indication that the person that downloaded the pirated file paid anything for it so I don’t really understand how a “market” is supported. The whole point of getting a pirated file is to get it for free.
I am not aware of any sites that sell pirated ebook files. I do know of sites that have files for free.