Am I an e-thief?

• Author: Klosterman, Chuck
• Position: The Ethicist - Brief article

I buy physical copies of books and then illegally download electronic versions of the same books so I can read them on my Kindle when it's more convenient. Is this stealing?

--Anonymous, Chicago

IF YOU WERE JUST asking about the definition of the word "stealing," then yes, you're stealing. But what we're trying to figure out here is whether buying a book once means you can own it in all forms. If you bought a ticket for the theatrical release of a film and asked if it was ethical to rip it off a site like Megaupload for home use, I'd say no. The same...