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[snoopy]

I have most the shadowrun books, but I prefer them in electronic format (.pdf ect) so I can use my computer to search through them instead of flipping pages to find that vehicle/rule/gun ect. I have most of them, but I can't find threats (1 or 2)out there anywhere and I don't have a scanner. If any1 wants any others drop a line and I will send them to ya.

[Arethusa]

Though they're obviously quite available through various p2p software, this board has a strict policy and culture opposed to book piracy. If you want to discuss it, take it somewhere else. We don't ask and we don't tell.

[snoopy]

If they were easily found in p2p networks I wouldn't have posted. I understand the stand against piracy and I support it, but if I own the books and I just want them in e-format wheres the piracy? Point taken though, I will keep it of this forum.

paulmighty@hotmail.com

[mfb]

legally, the piracy is in owning an electronic copy, period. except for select pages (namely, the charsheets) it's illegal to make, own, or transfer any copies in any format of any SR book. not that i walk a strictly legal line myself, but you asked.

[L.D]

Doesn't that depend on which country you're in? Or is it some global law?

[Arethusa]

It is not illegal to make copies of books you own for personal use. But it is illegal to download them, as they are backups of someone else's copy, whether you own them or not.

[L.D]

Huh? That's weird.

[Arethusa]

Consumer rights. Been that way for a long time. Which is why the DMCA— which forbids users from making backup copies of digital material for personal use and allows things like copy protection— are so ridiculously wrong and horeendously backwards that people with brains have been lobying against the RIAA and software companies that bought that bill through Congress and the altogether worthless Clinton administration.

[Zazen]

[xizor]

all of this applies only if you live in canada
in canada it MAY be legal to have an electronic copy of a book that you own.
highly questionable but legal.
it would also be legal to get an electronic copy of a book that you own.
however it is still ilegal to get a electronic copy of a book that you dont own.

when you up load information onto the internet you may assume for some idiotic reason that all of the criminal eliments out there will obay the laws and only download things they own.

internet policy in canada as i understand it.

[L.D]

But does the same rules aplly to me in Sweden, for instance. How about someone in Peru?

[Arethusa]

Well, that's pleasantly sane. Why the US refuses to follow suit and likes being backwards is beyond me. Yay for soft money being a system of voting and free speech.

LD: you'll have to read up on international copyright law. Some of it will apply and some of it won't. Sweden's traditionally been quite lax about it, but recently, as US insistence, they've been getting more (illegally, at that) strict about things. It's a crazy world out there.

[RedmondLarry]

As someone who has made a living for 25 years producing and selling copyrighted material, I'm very pleased with the concensus on dumpshock that we should pay for what we use, and we should support the gaming companies that produce the materials we like.

Thank you, everyone.

[BitBasher]

That doesn't change the fact that my life would be a WHOLE lot easier if they would legitimately release the books in a digital format, even DRM protected. I would sell my mother to be able to do a word search across all sourcebooks when im looking for something.

[Arethusa]

Ugh. Never suggest DRM seriously.

It would be a hell of a lot better if they'd just release .pdfs on cds on the backs of the actual books.

[RedmondLarry]

I agree, BitBasher, it would make things much easier for us. Unfortunately, with all the digital piracy out there (particularly on College Campuses, I hear) it would sure cut into their revenue. I'd be willing to pay $250 for a legitimate searchable digital copy of every SR book I own, with either technology or my word to ensure that I wouldn't let any copies out of my hand.

Did you notice the shading on many tables in the third edition books? The shading makes them stand out to us, the readers, but I wonder sometimes if it was done to make photocopying harder.

[Zazen]

The shading shows up fine on my pirated copies, so I think it's just because it looks cool.

[A Clockwork Lime]

Just as a side note, it's not downloading or otherwise receiving copyrighted material that's really the illegal part -- you have no way of knowing if something is copyrighted when you acquire it. It's the distribution of copyrighted material, or otherwise making it accessible to others, that's illegal.

[Zazen]

[A Clockwork Lime]

And how do you know that before you've acquired it? I didn't realize you were psychic.

If it were illegal, millions of people could be thrown in jail for downloading some file some jackass renamed or otherwise labeled the file as "free for public use." But you can't, because it's not illegal nor should it be.

[Eyeless Blond]

[Arethusa]

Lime, it's nice you think that, but thanks to the DMCA, your sanity is completely legally inapplicable because we have corporate interests who bought their way into fucking customers and potential customers because they don't understand how to adapt in business. And, wonderfully, the people have no say because they don't have the money to compete. So I guess that's 'democracy.'

Data havens had better become a reality soon.

[Zazen]

[RedmondLarry]

I already knew Zazen was psychic. Somehow I just felt it.

[A Clockwork Lime]

Can someone please quote the part of the DMCA where it states "and if thou downloads a file, thou shall rot in prison until you are dead Dead DEAD!" please? I recall no such clause.

There's lots about caching, archiving, and otherwise making files available (knowingly or not) to others. But I'm unaware of the parts you guys are referring to. Note also that simply because some organization or individual is suing another, that doesn't mean it's illegal either. I could sue you for offending me by wearing the color green at any point in your life, for instance, but that's certainly not a crime to wear green regardless of my insanity.