5 ms·

Honestly, this is a very privileged take based upon false assumptions. As someone who doesn't have disposable income ~90% of the books I pirate I would have nev

Honestly, this is a very privileged take based upon false assumptions. As someone who doesn't have disposable income ~90% of the books I pirate I would have never read otherwise. I'm not depriving the creators of income because I never had any to give them in the first place. Over 53% of Americans between the ages of 18-34 do not have any disposable income [1]. Additionally, Americans that do have disposable income should probably be saving it all in case of an unexpected medical emergency or layoff. These problems are only worse outside the United States. Before you lecture me about public libraries, go ahead and take a bus outside of San Francisco or whatever major city you live in and try to rent a book published in the last 5 years... I'll wait. For all of human history the poor simply didn't read. Digital piracy has changed the world for the better. As an (unsuccessful) author myself, I beg anyone who cannot afford to pay for my work to pirate it. Most authors I know feel the same way. If you're only into writing for the money your work probably sucks anyway! [1] https://www.marketingcharts.com/demographics-and-audiences-118571 https://www.marketingcharts.com/demographics-and-audiences-1...

condwanaland 3y ago
I'm sorry, I couldn't stop laughing at "this is only worse outside of the United States"
deleted 3y ago
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esafak 3y ago
There is a world of free reading material, recent and old. More than enough for anyone to educate and lift her/himself out of poverty. The Wikipedia alone, with all its errors, is a fountain of knowledge. You don't need piracy. I hope your indigent pirate going to compensate the authors once he has lifted himself out of poverty.
midoridensha 3y ago
>These problems are only worse outside the United States. Huh? I agree with everything up to this point. Of the G20 nations, only the US has all the problems you complain about: no disposable income, enormous medical costs, no job protections, etc. Well-run developed nations don't have these problems. As someone who left the US, the only real problem over here is that English-language books are hard to find in countries where English isn't widely spoken (which should be obvious of course), so of course e-books are very attractive for this reason. But then, as you can see in many comments here, the e-book sellers don't work much with people living outside the US, your "purchased" e-books stop working outside the US, etc.

condwanaland 3y ago

I'm sorry, I couldn't stop laughing at "this is only worse outside of the United States"

deleted 3y ago

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esafak 3y ago

There is a world of free reading material, recent and old. More than enough for anyone to educate and lift her/himself out of poverty. The Wikipedia alone, with all its errors, is a fountain of knowledge. You don't need piracy. I hope your indigent pirate going to compensate the authors once he has lifted himself out of poverty.

midoridensha 3y ago

>These problems are only worse outside the United States. Huh? I agree with everything up to this point. Of the G20 nations, only the US has all the problems you complain about: no disposable income, enormous medical costs, no job protections, etc. Well-run developed nations don't have these problems. As someone who left the US, the only real problem over here is that English-language books are hard to find in countries where English isn't widely spoken (which should be obvious of course), so of course e-books are very attractive for this reason. But then, as you can see in many comments here, the e-book sellers don't work much with people living outside the US, your "purchased" e-books stop working outside the US, etc.