This is David Duffy’s comment on my previous post about intellectual piracy:
Yeah, I agree that people should take a stand, but what makes her books worth 20€, way way above the average? Just because she won a $1m literary prize? No surprise the books are being pirated. It’s like paying £10 for a cup of tea.
Being an American I don’t have a distinct understanding of European pricing under the euro, but to be frank, even if 20€ was a month’s wages a copy, I wouldn’t give a wooden nickel about this part of the argument. I haven’t read this chick’s books. She might be amazing and completely worth the price; she might be a hack and her books might be a ripoff. But theft is theft is theft, and I have zero sympathy for people who steal the effort and creativity of thinking professionals, be they writers, musicians, actors… She wrote it. She can take only moon rocks and unicorn horns in trade for all I care.
The recent attitude seems to be that there is a right to affordably—and affordable is here defined by the consumer, which usually means “free”—priced entertainment. There isn’t. If you don’t like the price, you are free to buy something else or buy nothing at all.
