<html><body><span style="font-family:Verdana; color:#000000; font-size:10pt;">Porter,<br><br>Thank you for such a well-written question. I am a tech junkie myself (hobby, unfortunately, not profession) and I see the question of file sharing come up a lot. Your question is especially relevant right now, as Amazon is in the news for putting file-sharing restrictions on their e-reader, the Kindle.<br><br>I'm not a content creator anymore, although I was in music performance for a while. The question of right to share came up even then, when the Internet wasn't really fast enough to share the types of files they can today.. Here's what I discovered about file sharing:<br><br>There are three types of people. <br>1. There are people who will follow the rules no matter what. They will either buy it or they won't own it, and that's it. They are a minority.<br>2. There are people who see no value in any type of arts-related product: music, books, magazines, pictures, movies, television, stuff like that. They are also a minority. Those are people who will get it for free one way or another, or they'll do without. They feel if it can be created, they should have it for free, neither caring about the fact that the creators of the product need to get paid as well, nor noticing that this is a JOB for others (I've always wondered how those people would feel if someone asked them to their jobs for free one day?)<br>3. Then there are the in betweens. They are the people who want the product. They would PREFER to get it through legal, paying means, but if it is made too difficult, or the product is disabled somehow through legal means, then they would get it another way. This is where the majority of people fit in.<br><br>On to your question, should comics be obtained through file sharing? I guess it depends on what type of person you are. Understand, I recognize that there are these things called "libraries" where books and other media are shared without any type of remuneration for the creator. 5 people, or 500 people borrow that book, movie, etc., it won't matter to the the guy or gal who created it. Although I have put that question to several best selling authors before, and usually the answer they give me is that libraries are great promos for selling future copies of their works. But file sharing is different. When you borrow a book, you give it back and after a time, if you wanted to experience the work again, you either have to check it out again or go out and buy yourself a copy. When you file share, you have a permenant copy of that work for your personal use without having paid for it (unless you make some compensation to the author sometime later, which many people, myself included, have done after the fact).<br><br>I am of the opinion that it IS different from one friend lending a copy of their comic to someone else. The reason is it is still one comic. One person had it, and then they don't. If they both want a copy, an additional sale will have to be made. Now in the digital age, one person lends an electronic file to someone else, they BOTH have it. Presumably no new sales. I think the general public, at first ignorant about this philosophy, is starting to understand it a little better. First of all, iTunes has proven that music can be sold, not only digitally, but conveniently as well. While piracy in music has not gone away (as I said, anyone who wants it for free, will still get it for free somehow, but then they wouldn't have paid anyway). But those who are willing to buy their music now have several convenient, inexpensive, legal ways to do it. You are correct that CD sales have gone down, but electronic sales of music have gone up. My personal opinion is iTunes's ability to buy music a la carte has saved the industry. How many of us had to buy an album of 9 bad songs to get one good one? <br><br>Computer games now have Steam for PC's, and internal services for 360, Wii, and PS3. In my opinion, movies and television are still way open. No one has really found a way to affordably and conveniently get those out to people, even though services like iTunes and Hulu (U.S. only) are making some pretty good attempts. So piracy there is still an issue. And Amazon is doing really terriffic stuff with the Kindle.<br><br>Most people are learning about the legal ways to get things they want. If they can buy it easily enough and they do not feel they are being price gouged (a problem on more than one service) then I believe most people would not only buy it, but most would find it immoral not to. On the other hand, if it in inconvenient, too expensive, or in some other way unpleasant to purchase the item legally, I don't think people have much of a problem getting it through other channels. For better or for worse, I find myself in this majority of people. However, I will point out that since 2006, I have had an impossible time justifying file sharing anything. If it is something I want to obtain electronically, I have always found a convenient, inexpensive, legal way to obtain it. I think people are like me in that regard, and piracy is going to go down as the quality for legally obtaining goods and services continues to rise.<br><br>The field of comic books is still open, I like the idea of what Marvel is doing, and I hope it continues and gets better. It might be what comics need. No, there will always be people who want their comics in paper form, but if it becomes more cost effective to electronically publish a book, then traditional comics might become more of a niche item. But I don't see that happening too soon. Not unless what Marvel is doing takes off wildly.<br><br>Keep in mind that most every comic book is still under copyright, very few are actually in public domain. From Superman to Groo, someone still has the rights to make money from them. Whatever you think about how those rights were obtained.<br><br>Sorry for the long rant. As I said, this sort of thing falls under the subject of passionate hobby for me. I hope at least some of this addresses your questions. I answered this way because your questions fall in line with the bigger picture of file sharing ANY type of media, not just comics. I thought it best to address it all. I like the fact that someone is asking about this, however.<br><br>Elie<br></span></body></html>