Julian Vrieslander > wrote:

> How is this different than what happens every day in bookstores? People
> walk in, pick up books and start reading. You could argue that computer
> access allows easier copying. But a customer could also circumvent
> copyright by bringing a digicam or pocketable scanner into a bookstore.

People have to actually visit a bookstore in person, find the book they have in
mind, sit down, and read through it. Online, this can all be done from one's home
and many people can review the contents of the same book at the same time. In a
bookstore, the browsing is limited to the number of books the store has in stock and
browsing more than a few minutes is also not permitted in many bookstores.

> The main differences for the Amazon store is (a) the convenience factor,
> and (b) that users can perform computerized searches within the texts of
> the books. Maybe that poses new issues for copyright law.

Yup, and not to mention that browsing via Amazon.com makes books available
to a wider group of people. Copying text illegally from what's online also
becomes trivial, such as copying a recipe from a particular cookbook.