3 ms·

> "Owning" something doesn't mean you have unlimited rights to do what you want with it. Do you not "own" physical books because you can't (legally) photocopy t

> "Owning" something doesn't mean you have unlimited rights to do what you want with it. Do you not "own" physical books because you can't (legally) photocopy them? Do you not own a gun because you can't (legally, at least where I live) lend it to a friend? In your examples, you own the book and the gun because the publisher of the book and the manufacturer of the gun (or anyone else, excepting the state, I suppose) can’t unilaterally take them back from you or modify them without some sort of penalty. This can — and has [0] — happened with eBooks. The “unlimited rights to do what you want with [them]” are not guaranteed by ownership in my opinion. [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18amazon.html https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18am...

Lio 3y ago
When the copyright expires on the books you own you will be able to legally photocopy them. Not so for a DRM’d ebook.
IshKebab 3y ago
Again, "owning" does not mean that something cannot be unilaterally taken from you. Eminent domain is a very obvious example of that. Ownership does not have a single neat list of requirements, which is why it makes no sense to say "this is bad because we don't own it".
- derstander 3y ago
  > Again, "owning" does not mean that something cannot be unilaterally taken from you. Eminent domain is a very obvious example of that. Eminent domain is the state taking from you. I already mentioned this in my comment. In fact, the state pays a penalty for doing so in the US as enshrined in the 5th amendment: “… nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.“ > Ownership does not have a single neat list of requirements No, it does not have a comprehensive list for all use cases, but I would say that the one I mentioned in my first comment is a necessary one: fundamentally that it cannot be taken from you without penalty.

Lio 3y ago

When the copyright expires on the books you own you will be able to legally photocopy them. Not so for a DRM’d ebook.

IshKebab 3y ago

Again, "owning" does not mean that something cannot be unilaterally taken from you. Eminent domain is a very obvious example of that. Ownership does not have a single neat list of requirements, which is why it makes no sense to say "this is bad because we don't own it".

derstander 3y ago
> Again, "owning" does not mean that something cannot be unilaterally taken from you. Eminent domain is a very obvious example of that. Eminent domain is the state taking from you. I already mentioned this in my comment. In fact, the state pays a penalty for doing so in the US as enshrined in the 5th amendment: “… nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.“ > Ownership does not have a single neat list of requirements No, it does not have a comprehensive list for all use cases, but I would say that the one I mentioned in my first comment is a necessary one: fundamentally that it cannot be taken from you without penalty.