489

Why is it legal to buy and sell used books/discs but illegal to buy and sell used digital files? (lemmy.world)

submitted 7 months ago by _number8_@lemmy.world to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

123 comments fedilink hide all child comments

this contradiction always confused me. either way the official company is "losing a sale" and not getting the money, right?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] zarkanian@sh.itjust.works 26 points 7 months ago

It isn't piracy, either. It's filesharing.

See Richard Stallman, "Ending the War on Sharing":

When record companies make a fuss about the danger of "piracy", they're not talking about violent attacks on shipping. What they complain about is the sharing of copies of music, an activity in which millions of people participate in a spirit of cooperation. The term "piracy" is used by record companies to demonize sharing and cooperation by equating them to kidnaping, murder and theft.