[rodly]

Well it's how anything digital works now. I can only think of a few exceptions that are truly exceptional (Amazon Book Lending).

You can't have a purely digital content item and not have it bind itself to some kind of purchaser. Why? Because then you'll have one person buying the item and distributing it for every family and friend out there. You might then try to argue that physical items like books and DVDs are subject to this exploitation. Obviously the physicality of the items make them unfit for mass sharing. It takes a lot of time to swap around a single book or DVD. It takes 5 seconds to whip up a dropbox link to my giant email list.

Aside from the above, Steam started off with a "all sales are final and permanently tied to the account purchaser" model. No one expects to be able to buy a game on Steam and then share it with a friend.

[ernesth]

> Well it's how anything digital works now. I can only think of a few exceptions

Well, the exceptions are not that exceptional. Do you buy digital music that you cannot lend? Are you not able to lend a game purchased on gog without paying? All the ebooks I bought I share with my family (and I have the legal right to do so, admittedly, I live in a country where DRMed ebooks are not the only solution).

[rodly]

If you created an eBook that I then purchased and shared with my family and friends, how would you feel? That eBook will then be shared with your families friends and your friends families and friends. See how that works? Is that fair you to you? What if it took you a whole year of unpaid time to produce this book?

I don't get this entitled view people have on creative content they purchase. Yes, you certainly own the content in the sense that you can now consume it and enjoy it forever. No, you cannot go and take this content and essentially sell it for $0 to everyone because it's now in your possession.

[ernesth]

I would be very happy if you found my work good enough to share with your family. I would find it unfair for you to pay twice for you and your daughter to read a book I would have written.

I have always shared some books with my family, and I continue to do so with ebooks. It also happened that I watched DVDs with my family or with friends. This is legal and this is totally reasonable use. And I am entitled to share and copy creative content with my family (close circle) by the law of my country as long as I do not break copy protection, which is why I do not buy DRMed goods.