News You shouldn't steal eBooks unless you have good lawyers

[AC News]

You shouldn't steal eBooks. It looks like Meta didn't get that memo.

You shouldn't steal eBooks unless you have good lawyers : Read more

 

[scotto763]

It's not stealing if you want to back up your purchased content or strip the drm to put on another reader. Piracy entails sharing and/or making profit from it. Actual piracy is such a low percentage that content providers would save more money by not fighting it and just leaving it alone.

 

[JudasD]

it's not stealing as the original is still intact, it is only copyright infringement. If i were to copy a corvette for myself and not for resale, there is no issue. So why if i copy a book there is an issue? yeah, that's called a double standard. pass.

 

[hhe32]

As others mentioned, this is copyright infringement. Stealing is a different thing entirely.

 

[vaffangool]

Actual piracy is such a low percentage that content providers would save more money by not fighting it and just leaving it alone.

I don't know that it's as uncommon as you think, but you're right they're spending money to combat piracy by people from whom they would derive no income anyway. The number of violators who could otherwise pay for the content is absolutely negligible.

 

[gregrogers5555]

Why "steal" or "copyright infringe (guilty conscience?)" when almost every eBook is available from your public library via the Libby app?

While most copyright infringement is between two private parties (a civil matter), it can rise to criminal charges when the government takes action because the illegal use or sharing of copyright material is done on purpose. The FBI has recently made ‘intellectual property’ theft a priority of its criminal investigative program.

1847. Criminal Copyright Infringement -- 17 U.S.C. 506(a) And 18 U.S.C. 2319

This is archived content from the U.S. Department of Justice website. The information here may be outdated and links may no longer function. Please contact webmaster@usdoj.gov if you have any questions about the archive site.

www.justice.gov

 

[CatsAreGods]

I don't know that it's as uncommon as you think, but you're right they're spending money to combat piracy by people from whom they would derive no income anyway. The number of violators who could otherwise pay for the content is absolutely negligible.

That's why Meta should absolutely get hit with a massive fine and possibly corporate action. They do have the financial ability to buy all these books, as well as the license to import them and use them for their own ends, and they seem to have known they were breaking the law for profit.

 

[Mooncatt]

The main question is if the books in question were public access to begin with or if they were paid access. If they are paid access, then I could see the theft argument but not a copyright issue.

I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I don't view training AI on other material to be copyright infringement. If it is, then that means every artist and creator that ever referenced a prior work is guilty of the same. The AI generations do not regurgitate exact copies of other works, or even derivatives. They only mimic styles, and you can not copyright an artistic style (at least not in the U.S.).