Hello everyone,
I had a question related to pirated books (especially uploaded on Terebess) and how it relates to the precept of refraining from stealing.
A precept we take as Buddhist practitioners is to refrain from stealing -- taking what is not given. But I was thinking, doesn't this go against viewing illegally uploaded books onto the web, particularly books uploaded on Terebess. Would it not go against the precept of stealing to read material which we did not buy? These authors work very hard, and dedicated a lot of their time to publishing these books, and we take away from their income (livelihood for them to afford their necessities) when we illegally downloaded/read these copies. I can only imagine if we were authors and we worked really hard in publishing material, and we didn't receive the necessary income to live because others found illegal copies of our work online. Or, any of us working normal 9-5 jobs, we didn't get paid for our hard work.
As it relates to deceased authors, it's my understanding that authors can appoint a family member (or friend) to receive the income after they have passed away, so the stance to say that the deceased authors will not reap the fruits of their work would be also incorrect (though, correct me if I'm wrong).
Thanks so much!
Elijah
I had a question related to pirated books (especially uploaded on Terebess) and how it relates to the precept of refraining from stealing.
A precept we take as Buddhist practitioners is to refrain from stealing -- taking what is not given. But I was thinking, doesn't this go against viewing illegally uploaded books onto the web, particularly books uploaded on Terebess. Would it not go against the precept of stealing to read material which we did not buy? These authors work very hard, and dedicated a lot of their time to publishing these books, and we take away from their income (livelihood for them to afford their necessities) when we illegally downloaded/read these copies. I can only imagine if we were authors and we worked really hard in publishing material, and we didn't receive the necessary income to live because others found illegal copies of our work online. Or, any of us working normal 9-5 jobs, we didn't get paid for our hard work.
As it relates to deceased authors, it's my understanding that authors can appoint a family member (or friend) to receive the income after they have passed away, so the stance to say that the deceased authors will not reap the fruits of their work would be also incorrect (though, correct me if I'm wrong).
Thanks so much!
Elijah
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