And I might add to this, that no one is making you buy books from Amazon. The device works just fine with any of the several million free etexts and pdf files that are already out there for free. The electronic ink screen is easy on the eye in the brightest sun and on the corner of my sofa before bed. The device and the content are 2 different things. I'm not a fan of DRM but I do enjoy the Kindle. For those of you that I just disagreed with, enjoy your tantrum.
All the name calling aside today's situation with copyright is not what was envisioned by the creators of copyright. It was not that long ago that people who created art, music, books etc. enjoyed no protection. They still created but anyone was free to copy what they did. The technology did not exist to make that simple, however. At the time the copyright law was written the idea was to provide some protection for a limited time, to allow the creators to profit from their work and then to allow that work to move to the public domain for the good of society. Today, however, those rights have passed to corporate giants rather than individuals. Those corporations have used their money and their influence with lawmakers, who are easily bought, to extend the length of time that works are protected to the point that their is now no practical limit to it at all. Nothing ever passes into the public domain for the good of society. As the law was originally written it was a good thing and a balanced thing. Today is has become a way to remove tens of millions of works from society that can not be obtained because they are out of print but still owned by companies who will never print them. They won't publish them but they won't let you have them either. They are just gone. This is true of music, art, books and everything covered by copyright. There once was a balance but what we have today is not that balance. The laws need to be fixed. That is not to say that people have a right to take what they want. It means that there should be a balance between what is good for the individual and what is good for society.
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Amen (as wizened)
And I might add to this, that no one is making you buy books from Amazon. The device works just fine with any of the several million free etexts and pdf files that are already out there for free. The electronic ink screen is easy on the eye in the brightest sun and on the corner of my sofa before bed. The device and the content are 2 different things. I'm not a fan of DRM but I do enjoy the Kindle. For those of you that I just disagreed with, enjoy your tantrum.
Re: Re: (as wizened)
Excellent point. No one should be found guilty and punished for being accused 3 times of anything. It totally circumvents the concept of due process.
name calling aside (as wizened)
All the name calling aside today's situation with copyright is not what was envisioned by the creators of copyright. It was not that long ago that people who created art, music, books etc. enjoyed no protection. They still created but anyone was free to copy what they did. The technology did not exist to make that simple, however. At the time the copyright law was written the idea was to provide some protection for a limited time, to allow the creators to profit from their work and then to allow that work to move to the public domain for the good of society. Today, however, those rights have passed to corporate giants rather than individuals. Those corporations have used their money and their influence with lawmakers, who are easily bought, to extend the length of time that works are protected to the point that their is now no practical limit to it at all. Nothing ever passes into the public domain for the good of society. As the law was originally written it was a good thing and a balanced thing. Today is has become a way to remove tens of millions of works from society that can not be obtained because they are out of print but still owned by companies who will never print them. They won't publish them but they won't let you have them either. They are just gone. This is true of music, art, books and everything covered by copyright. There once was a balance but what we have today is not that balance. The laws need to be fixed. That is not to say that people have a right to take what they want. It means that there should be a balance between what is good for the individual and what is good for society.