"Free" O'Reilly Perl books on Russian sites

> From: "Mark Winchester" <casullian_454@yahoo.com>
> Newsgroups: perl.beginners
> To: <beginners@perl.org>
> Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2001 6:43 PM
> Subject: 15 O'Reilly computer books free for download
> 
> > Just found this posted on another site. Many free Perl
> > books....
> >

Please don't pass around pointers to these sites (mostly in Russia),
which take our CD bookshelf products (which are licensed for single-user
use) and put them up on the web.  Encouraging piracy is not the way to
go if you want to see O'Reilly and our authors continue to produce
quality books--and to make online versions of them available.  (I
actually don't mind the online access in countries like Russia where
many programmers really can't afford our books, but it bothers me when
people here in the US, and especially people on lists like this,
recommend pirated ebook sites.)

I feel particularly strongly about this because I've taken a stand
*against* strong copy protection, preferring to trust in the goodwill
and honesty of users.  I've done this because I believe that eBook
schemes that will require everyone to register in order to read online
content are ultimately bad for fundamental freedoms.  (For example, if
you have to register to read an online book, then someone knows what
you're reading; what's more, you don't have the ability to share it
legitimately (e.g. loaning it to someone else.))  There have recently
been attacks by groups such as the Association of American Publishers on
libraries, for instance.  This is an extreme counter-reaction to fears
that once electronic content gets out on the net, no one will be able to
profit from it.  Unless we want to feed these fears and reactions, there
need to be strong social norms around respecting the wishes of authors
and publishers regarding their content.

There are times when the creators of software or documentation make
things freely available because it serves their goals; there are others
where they ask to be paid.  (So for example, O'Reilly funds a lot of the
freely available info on www.perl.com, not to mention sites like
oreillynet.com and xml.com; but in other cases, such as with our safari
ebook service (safari.oreilly.com) or our CD bookshelves, we ask to be
paid.)  This gives us the revenues we need to continue doing the work
that (presumably) you all appreciate so much.

Thanks very much.

-- 
Tim O'Reilly @ O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
101 Morris Street, Sebastopol, CA 95472
+1 707-829-0515, FAX +1 707-829-0104
tim@oreilly.com, http://www.oreilly.com

• "Free" O'Reilly Perl books on Russian sites by Tim O'Reilly