Philip Pullman: illegal downloading is 'moral squalor'
Bestselling author says web piracy is akin to 'reaching into someone's pocket and taking their wallet'...
"...In an article for Index on Censorship, Pullman, who is president of the Society of Authors, makes a robust defence of copyright laws. He is withering about internet users who think it is OK to download music or books without paying for them..."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/sep/15/philip-pullman-illegal-downloading-theft
He does not get it all his own way in the article nor in the copyright world as a whole. And why should he?
The advice that "we should not judge a book by it's cover", is sage indeed and of some vintage. I spent money on his 'His Dark Materials', solely because something within it was alluded to in passing on the BBC's QT, and found much of it entertaining. I think the ending was rushed and garbled, and although the first instalment has been lavishly filmed there does not seem to have been much enthusiasm for filming the other two books in the series.
I am not sure whether the person that mentioned the work bought the books for her children or because she writes reviews, in which case she would have got the books buckshee, no complaints from authors or publishers there.
And then we can move onto paperback covers that tend not to show anything much that is contained within, just pure puffery. Obviously publishers don't care too much once they have your money.
Music. I have lost count of the times I have had to lay-out for the Fleetwood-mac 'Rumours' album, (some stolen, some 'absent-mindedly' borrowed), only to be admonished that I shall not copy such CD onto any other device!? Just where do these bean-counters get off?
I have a solution:let honesty prevail, and let publishers show we poor souls the way.
Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
