Does Reading online Manga, Comics, etc, from free scan sites, is Crime?

[Cute Wolf]

Basically, in recent discussion with another forum members from "richer" country, we're just chatting something else until he ask "So, what did you do?" I just reply by "reading manga XXXXXXX that just released". Then, for somewhat reasons I said "just read it on XXXXXXXXXX (free manga & comic scan sites), and guess, what he say?

"How could you lower yourself by reading that unlawful scanlations?"

....................

So now, I'm basically thinking about, if someone buy a manga/comic/whatever, scan it, and share it on the internet? does that was basically more or less the same way with you lent your physical comic/manga books to your friend outside the internet?

sometimes, it was kinda ridiculous, but just want to ask the opinions of patrons here :creep:

[rory_20_uk]

It is illegal. But I'm not sure if one is allowed to sell books second hand really. One reason why ebooks are so popular with publishers - no cost to make, difficult to share.

~:smoking:

[Lemur]

There are legitimate ways to view comics on, say, an iPad or Android pad. See here (http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/06/dc-comics-joins-marvel-on-ipad/) or here (http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/02/22/marvel-comics-hit-the-android/). Almost end of my lunch hour, so no time to look for the equivalent legal resource for manga, but I'm willing to bet it's out there.

-edit-

This site (http://www.comixology.com/)seems pretty slick, and legal to boot. Good stuff.

[Cute Wolf]

well, but all the legal stuffs is usually filled with old comics...

and, well, new comics / mangas .... actually being distributed faster on the internet, because when they're published on paper here, it's allready a month or two (living in third world country sucks, especially when it's about movies, comics, etcs)

and before the advent of Internet, your old books can be given to anyone you like, but with today's e books...

*don't give me an infraction for this please*

we all know that no matter how strong the encryption is, every even the most "secure" e books, have it's opened, pirated counterparts will be here (yeah, it's the truth here)

[Lemur]

Sure, piracy will always exist, but I'm a firm advocate of the notion that if a company is offering its wares online in a convenient, easy-to-use manner, that's the way we should go. It's no accident that the rise of Netflix has caused a massive reduction in movie and TV piracy (http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/04/netflix-file-sharing/).

I haven't used the comics site (http://www.comixology.com/), but if it's slick and useful, then there's a good reason to consider going legit.

[lars573]

Sure, piracy will always exist, but I'm a firm advocate of the notion that if a company is offering its wares online in a convenient, easy-to-use manner, that's the way we should go. It's no accident that the rise of Netflix has caused a massive reduction in movie and TV piracy (http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/04/netflix-file-sharing/).

I haven't used the comics site (http://www.comixology.com/), but if it's slick and useful, then there's a good reason to consider going legit.
The problem is the comic business rarely does things like convenient and easy-to-use. Even hollywood will eventually see the light and go that way. Comic publishers tend to be much more fearful and stubborn, and cling to the old ways. The audience being the same doesn't help much either. The only publisher that has a system remotely like convenient and easy-to-use is Marvel. They have a subscription service that gives you access to anything they publisher monthly for $5/mo (and they give you subscriber only content and an action figure). Everyone also charges the exact same as a physical copy for a single issue. Which is the biggest thing holding digital comics back. For the $4/$5 a copy price I'll walk my white arse to a store and support local businesses thank you very much. I really feel that way about any digital media that costs the exact same as the physical.

[Major Robert Dump]

Not enforcable outside of the US or wherever the comic is written. Thats why China makes fake I-PODS and gets away with it.

[lars573]

No China makes fake anything and everything and gets away with it because the PRC government is not interested in the protection of IP's and patents of foreign capitalists.

[Lemur]

The only publisher that has a system remotely like convenient and easy-to-use is Marvel.
Is this (http://www.comixology.com/) part of their thing, or is it a completely different animal?

[lars573]

The all in sub I was talking about is only from Marvel directly. That site appears to just be a vendor for current series. Going by the adds for DC re-boot "new 52" stuff and black Ultimate Spider-man.

[Lemur]

That site appears to just be a vendor for current series.
Right, okay, but it looks clean, well-organized and legitimate.

Look, I understand when people offer irritating, hard-to-use, crippled, DRM-infested malware solutions. The best response is to walk away and wait for them to correct their crainial-rectal inversion. Eventually iTunes stopped layering DRM on everything, because the music labels realized they were hurting themselves. Netflix is wonderful, more intuitive and convenient than video piracy. Hence it's catastrophic effect on the torrenting scene. Steam is kinda great, and a wonderful way to get your games.

The answer with comics is simple: Investigate the legit sites. If they are awful, overpriced and/or inconvenient, the answer is to walk away, not to resort to piracy. Eventually, after trying everything else, the content generators will do the right thing.

[Papewaio]

Problem and solution is regional pricing. Australians regularly pay much more for overseas content and computers.

$5/month is very reasonable ... For those in the first world.

Cutewolf... I'm assuming that the average daily wage in Indonesia would still be close to the $5US / day mark? It was $2/ day when I last worked there 12 years ago.

Essentially the very reasonable price goes from being the cost of a coffee to being a weeks rent... Not such a great solution now.

Need a library like solution... Or South East Asia to start their own great comic lines to compete with Japan and the US

[Cute Wolf]

Problem and solution is regional pricing. Australians regularly pay much more for overseas content and computers.

$5/month is very reasonable ... For those in the first world.

Cutewolf... I'm assuming that the average daily wage in Indonesia would still be close to the $5US / day mark? It was $2/ day when I last worked there 12 years ago.

Essentially the very reasonable price goes from being the cost of a coffee to being a weeks rent... Not such a great solution now.

Need a library like solution... Or South East Asia to start their own great comic lines to compete with Japan and the US

the standard wage here is about *don't laugh* $140 per month, actually, but compared with living costs, that's pretty much affordable.

Yeah, the question is, legal comic book fees are too expensive for most, of course, this don't stop local printings to copy mangas and comics without license at all, and what's more, the actual quality (!) of the pirated comics are often far better than legal ones, not to mention they are faster too...