“Piracy” here is used in the context of books and all sorts of manuscripts.
r/books have three main arguments against it:
- It is technically theft
- It damages the author’s job and income (as well as the publisher, illustrator…etc.)
- Why go through the tedious path of pirating books when you can borrow the books from a library legally and for free.
What’s your reply to those arguments? Are they satisfactory?
I think we should focus instead on implementing personalized pricing (localized pricing being one example) to reduce piracy.
My personal opinion: I also value my work’s impact and being credited, so my perceived loss is (piracy with credits, or knowing that it inspires new work/cultural progression) < (piracy) < (redistribution).
Many writers today are not so hateful about piracy as they used to, since their works became worldwide classics thanks to how easily pirated media propagates, especially in the third world.