On Wed, 12 Mar 2003, Andrew Lias wrote: @> If he sells you his copy, the author has already profited from the initial @> sale -- the new seller is merely recouping some of his investment by having @> you, effectively, refund him for part of his original sale. If, on the @> other hand, he makes 50 copies, that's 49 editions on the market that the @> author hasn't been compensated for, and which are competing with legitimate @> copies of the work. It it's an out-of-print title, this may not matter @> much, but even then there is always the possibility that the title will be @> reprinting, in which case such copies diminish the market for them. @> @> That said, there's never been a serious problem with photocopy piracy @> because of the expense and time involved in physically photocopying a work. @> Digital media, on the other hand, are rediculously easy to copy. A single @> copy can be multiplied indefinitely, as can all of the copies of copies of @> copies, and so forth. This can quickly lead to a devaluation of the work @> and a loss of revenue to the publisher and the author. People interested in copyright issues should probably look here for an alternate viewpoint: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/philosophy.html It's mostly oriented towards software, but there are some general-interest articles.