Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ

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

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

122 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?

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[–] [email protected] 177 points 8 months ago (35 children)

In theory, sharing a digital file can have a much greater impact than sharing a CD physically. Plus, you lose access to your copy of the CD if you give it to someone else. You can think of it like transferring a license for one user to a different user. There is no simultaneous usage.

I don't personally agree with this view, but I believe that's the argument.

[–] [email protected] 113 points 8 months ago (24 children)

I buy disc.

I rip contents of CD to computer.

I sell disc.

[–] [email protected] 54 points 8 months ago (5 children)

DON'T COPY THAT FLOPPY!!

This argument is only a "gotcha" if it was permissible use, but it wasn't, even before CDs.