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Originally Posted by Novem5er What does "distributing content" actually mean, though? Where is the line drawn. Obviously, the answer to this is going to be very different for different industries.
You can't "share" cable with your neighbor. But are we not allowed to "share" our D&D books with our players? What does distribution mean? Verbatim recitation? Temporary visual access? What happens when someone looks at a book they didn't buy, and memorizes the information therein? Isn't that distribution of content?
I seriously think that this is a fuzzy area of morality and I think publishers across all industries have been very successful in defining the publics thoughts by means of lobbying and legislation. I think there is a valid argument to be held for copyright laws regarding "information" and "product".
But I will admit that this is not necessarily the forum to have that argument. |
Sorry, but the morality involved is not "fuzzy" in the slightest. Your argument that it's "different for different industries" is sophistry.
Distribution is: "turning something you own over to others."
Using something yourself that you have paid for is legal. Loaning, giving, or selling your physical copy to your friend (or a total stranger) is legal. Copying a couple of pages so your friend can borrow them is legal. Copying it wholesale (whether by scanning or typing it out) and giving your friend a copy is ILLEGAL, but isn't worth the cost of prosecution.
Similarly, the number of people capable of memorizing the document from a single readthrough is a benefit those people obtain. They still can't legally distribute it in whole to other people.
There's no two ways about it. Making that digital copy available online for hundreds or thousands of people (or more) to use is not just illegal, it might even be worth prosecuting.
So it isn't that scanning your book and giving a digital copy to your friend is
legal, it's that, like going 2 miles an hour over the speed limit, you can probably get away with it. But you're still
breaking the law.
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