I don’t mean to distribute, but to scan for myself to read digitally, am I allowed to do that legally and ethically when I buy a physical book or would that be totally unethical and illegal?
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who cares, do it anyway
Not a lawyer, and I don’t recommend asking for legal advice on a random forum. From an ethical standpoint, I see it as perfectly ethical as long as it’s for personal use and you don’t give anyone access to it. With that said, if you ever sell the physical copy of the book, I think ethically you’ll have to delete all the copies you’ve made.
I did my searching based on music/CDs since the wording is a lot more clear, but the same rules apply since were still talking about copyright infringement.
As long you’re making the copy for personal use and aren’t selling/distributing, you are fully in the clear:
- It’s okay to copy music onto special Audio CD-R’s, mini-discs, and digital tapes (because royalties have been paid on them) – but not for commercial purposes.
https://www.riaa.com/resources-learning/about-piracy/
As far as ethical, this is mostly up to you, but unless it’s from an independent artist/distributor, I personally see it as: if you were never going to be a customer to begin with, they’re not losing anything. I am, however, against then reselling it yourself. Ymmv.
Oh, thanks! I have some books that is occupying too many spaces and I was wondering about it, I don’t know what I’d do to the physical book afterwards though, would I still be in the clear if I donated the physical book to a public library or would be better if I somehow recycle it since it’s mostly paper?
Recycling is definetly in the clear, however donating to libraries would be more meaningful; as it offers a chance for more people to read them.
Would it be legal also if I had scanned it for myself only beforehand to access digitally? I also think it’d be more meaningful but the local library here gives you a form to fill if you want to donate anything so that gets me in doubt
Legal? Likely not, as you’re turning one copy into two copies.
Would anyone pursue you? Likely not. No one is going to get a warrant to search your devices to see if you’ve photocopied your books before giving them away; unless you’re sharing the digital files publically.
Do not share the digital files publically, as that is definetly not legal.
Technically speaking you’re supposed to destroy your local copy of you no longer have the original since the rights stay with the original. That being said, no one is coming to knock on your door for photocopying some books you owned and no longer own.
As long as you don’t distribute it it should be fine legally (in the US) and is morally correct (imo) since it is your own copy of the book.
Most countries consider this “private copying” which is legal. Not a lawyer, you should check your country’s laws.
Unethical? Copying is not theft.
As long as you don’t distribute it it should be fine legally (in the US) and is morally correct (imo) since it is your own copy of the book.
Ethics and legality are far from the same, or even linked.
If it wasn’t fair use I’m sure they would have gone after Kurzweil (popular assistive technology program designed explicitly for scanning books) a long time ago
What a depressing read this is, OpenAI has scraped tons of books and trying to scrape the entire internet and they don’t have to worry much, but ordinary people have to think twice for scanning and donating the physical book to someone who might benefit from it, such a dystopic reality
