3 ms·
There are a few reasons for that. The primary being that sharing a physical book do not count as copying, but sharing a digital book does. The second reason is
by belorn 2y ago
There are a few reasons for that. The primary being that sharing a physical book do not count as copying, but sharing a digital book does.
The second reason is that libraries tend to operate under government control, and governments has done things to enable libraries and work around copyright law. An old one that my country (used to?) have was to require publishers to send copies to the national library. In return, national authors got a symbolic sum (very tiny) each time a copy was taken out. Being forced to send a copy to the government isn't technically against copyright law, since no unlawful copying is being made, but the result has a very similar feeling as unlawful copying.
- yjftsjthsd-h 2y agoSure, but if anything that just reinforces how ridiculous it is to claim that "copyright law would've already burnt the library of alexandria several times over" - the LoA was very much backed by government power - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria#Early_expansion_and_organization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria#Early_ex... describes not merely going out and buying anything they could get their hands on, but outright using government mandate to seize and copy new books that passed through port.