Dear Teng Kee, Jon and all,

I think we should not let this argument gets personal. It is important
that we get to voice our opinions, but please refrain from making
personal attacks.

Teng Kee, I respect your views of the precepts. However, frankly
speaking, a professor using his own book for teaching would not call
his students who photocopies sections of the book as "outright"
copying. When students use the lessons they learnt in classroom, is
that "copying" too? How about when a teacher teaches from someone
else's book?

Jon was not wrong to inform the group where to obtain legitimate
materials for study. He may be too enthusiastic about it, but he is
not encouraging piracy in any sense.

I noted Gunnar just dropped in a mail too. ;-)

Robert Childers' works are already in the public domain, which is the
reason why it is available for free download. There are some websites
who now claim they retain some rights for providing public domain
materials to us the public. I think this is definitely a case we have
to fight for. Or, we may eventually lose the rights to all public
domain works, including the Tipitaka! I call this where law has gone
wrong.

As for those who reprint Robert Childers' works, I hope they have
assessed the business risks before doing so. Nonetheless, a good
hardcopy book is always the best. If it is a valuable resource for
study, and the price is reasonable and easily available, I would still
buy a copy even if the works can be downloaded for free. I believe if
there is ever a print-on-demand service, even with normal quality, it
will not beat 2USD unless it is mass produced at a minimum quantity.
(Those who are keen may like to contact Teng Kee)

Information on Robert Childer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Caesar_Childers

metta,
Yong Peng.

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Ong Teng Kee wrote:

Monks from sri lanka even refuse to photocopy books for me because it
breaks the patimokha. I have deep respect for that.

Robert Childers dict is sold as low as 2 usd in some stores. No one in
this world are too poor to buy a copy even in Cambodia. Why download
since the book was already reprinted at a very low price?