Purchased ebooks that can be taken away, purchased music that can be deleted, purchased products you are prevented from repairing that can be modified or entirely shut down at will. They get your money and your purchase doesn't buy ownership, a hallmark of Wilhoit's Law. I recall a pithy observation from a famous author, Cory Doctorow (npub1fdr…lvhs) :
"If buying isn't owning, piracy isn't stealing."
https://pluralistic.net/2025/08/26/sole-and-despotic-dominion/#then-they-came-for-me
gregg r
npub1lv…shuj3
2025-08-27 05:04:39 UTC
Author Public Key
npub1lvzluewjd747xwml5x7q5ell3san836685ahtdddj0f79hp2fwuslshuj3Seen on
wss://relay.momostr.pinkPublished at
2025-08-27 05:04:39 UTCEvent JSON
{
"id": "74a4f068326cc73e566d4d5c325ece291326d47f64e8c30ff834984fd0f8ff04",
"pubkey": "fb05fe65d26fabe33b7fa1bc0a67ff8c3b33c75a3d3b75b5ad93d3e2dc2a4bb9",
"created_at": 1756271079,
"kind": 1,
"tags": [
[
"proxy",
"https://mastodon.social/@grheavyroller/115098981489981293",
"web"
],
[
"p",
"4b461234559a9a14049435e1dd0e483916844ceadadfd6b5da824b157953bde6"
],
[
"proxy",
"https://mastodon.social/users/grheavyroller/statuses/115098981489981293",
"activitypub"
],
[
"L",
"pink.momostr"
],
[
"l",
"pink.momostr.activitypub:https://mastodon.social/users/grheavyroller/statuses/115098981489981293",
"pink.momostr"
],
[
"-"
]
],
"content": "Purchased ebooks that can be taken away, purchased music that can be deleted, purchased products you are prevented from repairing that can be modified or entirely shut down at will. They get your money and your purchase doesn't buy ownership, a hallmark of Wilhoit's Law. I recall a pithy observation from a famous author, nostr:npub1fdrpydz4n2dpgpy5xhsa6rjg8ytggn82mt0addw6sf93272nhhnqsjlvhs :\n\n\"If buying isn't owning, piracy isn't stealing.\"\n\nhttps://pluralistic.net/2025/08/26/sole-and-despotic-dominion/#then-they-came-for-me",
"sig": "bfef8722c7ddf19265c88275696ff55e08f6e9451340b19b200345b96905ae251620c0d8e951577a94c4b4c755c45c1ec2a0335b7df98f37f7d0c95e471c2fb0"
}