[Avenger42]

> they are sharing a digital copy of your book as a data-file, which is very quite different from a real book. You cant hold it you see, you cant smell it, you cant borrow it to your friend, only make another copy.

You can read it, yes?

I'm among the first to complain when people conflate "make a digital copy of" and "steal". However, you're going to the opposite extreme - pretending that because it's digital, it has none of the qualities of the original book. You're omitting quite a bit - he (and perhaps his editor) wrote every word in it, chose every image, researched the technology, and typeset the whole thing. Just because it ended up as both a PDF and a printed copy does not diminish the author's labor.

(It certainly diminishes the printer's labor, which is why we raise a stink when printed copies are cheaper than electronic ones.)

But you're hurting the entire ecosystem if you tell authors "stop writing if you don't like it". There's a middle ground somewhere.

[DrCatbox]

Yes I can read it.

The argument I was trying to make is to bring attention to the difference between a file and a book, they are different beasts, sure you can read them, but its not the same thiing to read a book and to read from a computer screen or kindle. Its just not the same.

The author has no right decide how I am going to read the book. Its the redistribution which he holds a right to. Lets take the discussion to what form of distribution copyright should apply to. Lets discuss who can decide when to read and how to read a text. Who has the right and who has copyright?

Its not just so simple, oh hey copyright, do as I almighty author say. Where is the consumer-rights in all this debate?