[Buddha-l] Using (or not using) Library.nu

[Geoff Zinderdine]

>
>
> This issue of unlicensed downloads has come under discussion recently with
> regard to the Buddha Torrents (http://buddhisttorrents.blogspot.com/)
> site:
> see
>
>
> http://americanbuddhist.blogspot.com/2011/07/stealing-sharing-precepts-wisdom.html
>
> and subsequent posts.
>
> Library.nu used to be gigapedia.com; yes lots of illegal books. I've
> occasionally downloaded electronic copies of books I already own, for the
> convenience of carrying some of my library in my netbook. I have moral
> conflicts over academic pricing: why should a publisher charge over US$100
> for an ebook? or even for a hardback, come to that? How free should
> knowledge be?
>
> A vexed question in many ways.
>
> --
> Margaret Gouin
>

Personally I think this is a strictly legal matter.  I see no possible way
to construe the buddhist stricture against taking what is not given as
pertaining to this.  If someone has a PDF of a book and they make me a copy,
they may have broken the law but no one has been deprived of an object which
they own.  There are more of that object in the world.  If we say this
deprives the author of revenue they might otherwise receive, that may indeed
be true in a functional way but not in terms of taking what is not given.
 You can not steal something that hasn't come into being yet.  Frankly this
was the common method in Tibet for students to obtain copies, except they
needed to write out books longhand.

Technology has changed the distribution model, just as Gutenberg's invention
democratized knowledge.  Authors and publishers can either adapt to the new
model or become extinct.  With a laptop and a website, any author can write,
produce and distribute high quality books without requiring a publishing
house.  Of course this means that there is more rubbish in print now than
their ever has been, but that is not the point of our discussion.
 Publishing houses add little value today and trying to badger us into
considering a resource to be artificially scarce is not changing anything.
 Either they will find a new way to monetize their role or something else
will take their place.

Personally, I download and use whatever I like.  If it is a good book, I
will usually buy a hard copy to support the author and because I generally
prefer reading a book.  I can tell you that I feel no pang of guilt about
doing something that anyone could do by going into the stacks of any major
library now for years.  YMMV.

Mimeographically yours,

Geoff