Opinions on this DVD-Practice
 

I have a friend who searches libraries all over the county borrowing OOP/rare DVD's, claims he lost it, pays the cost of replacing it and sells it on ebay for MUCH more...Is this a bad practice or is he a genius? I am very conflicted. Is this ethica?l...I mean, nothing has been stolen. Any opinions??

Why does this sound like a homework question for an ethics class?

I think this practice is a bad thing to do. It deprives the community of rare DVD's. The library is there for everyone's benifit, not one persons profit. By taking out of the collection DVD's that can't be replaced, he harms the community by depriving everyone from that DVD.

The only good thing I can think of is most librarys stamp their DVD somewhere which pretty much ruins it as a collectors item.

This is pretty unethical. I mean the guy is lying about losing DVDs. Granted he pays the original MSRP for them, but the library has no way of replacing them at that costs.

I'm sure that this thread will get locked/deleted soon due to the nature of the subject matter.

Not only isn't it ethical, but your friend is pretty lame. Depriving that community of those dvd's just to make a buck is just...eh. Kinda goes against the whole principle of a library wouldn't you say?

Here's an easy way to think of it: if I took rare DVDs from your collection and did the same thing, would you be happier with the money or the DVD back?

It is not ethical in the slightest and seems like a big fat waste of time on your "friends" part.

How often can he do this? The library must realise his losing more tha 1 dvd is a bit
lame.
The practice is disgusting.

That's unethical.

If there was a way he could legally buy the disc from the library, then sure, it'd be fine.

I'm more curious as to which library this is, that doesn't know it has so many OOP discs and doesn't feel bad about one guy who loses them all the time.

I can't believe somebody would even have to ask if the practice is unethical or not.

why do i get the feeling that the friend may just be the op trying to justify it

didn't I read in another thread that you did this? Oh wait, it was actually, you would lose accidentally "lose" the DVD from a rental place and keep it for yourself. Link

How can you say that nothing has been stolen? It's clearly unethical and certainly theft as well - it's just that the "crime" part of it is covered by his lie about 'losing' the materials. These days, libraries are much more networked with other libraries than ever before, so "problem patron" patterns emerge pretty quickly. If a library ever looked into one of his "lost" DVDs and discovered the truth, he could easily be prosecuted. In Maine, at least, we have a specific state law defining theft as it relates to library and museum materials - and this scenario clearly falls within that definition.

Unethical all the way! :thmbsdwn:

It would be scummy to say he lost and keep it for his collection. To sell it for a profit just makes him a true waste of space, trash. Why would anyone have to ask if this was OK. If he offered to purchase it, and the library agreed, that would be ok, but he is basically stealing it and depriving other patrons of the said work. If he was my friend I would tell him to stop and if he did not, turn him into whatever authority is appropriate. If there was a good way to turn people in for pirating movie, I would turn in some of the people I know as it really erks me that people are to cheap to buy a movie.

Pot meet kettle.

I can't imagine these DVDs are in great condition. Anything I've ever seen from a library has had some extent of scratches.

unethical -- perhaps your friend can pilfer from collection boxes as well.

Every great DVDTalk post starts this way.

DJ

you've gotta be kidding me. I can only imagine that you don't have too many friends

I can't believe the OP even has to ask this question.

My thoughts exactly...

Whoever found that Jackskeleton posting stuff contradicting himself is really sharp.

1.) I can assure you that this is not an "I have a friend..." story which is actually about myself. It all started when the library "legally" offered to sell me The Beatles' "Help!" movie from them for $4.99. It was in semi-good condition with only an easy peal barcode (no stamps/stickers) and I knew that I wouldn't be seeing an updated version for years. Hearing this, my friend, who I consider a shrewd businessman (who has found some funny ways to make money -- all being legal (this was the most 'unethical' thing he has ever done)), saw that prices of Help! being sold on ebay, and decided to try his luck with other movies.

2.) I'd never do this...I'm more worried about depriving anyone of movies than legal ramifications. Even though I would never want to get it in trouble. I was really interested in opinions but I can see now that he is unethical. I will make sure to tell him.

With regard to your last post, you seem to be conflating illegal with unethical. They are not the same. Smoking pot is illegal but not unethical. Cheating on your spouse is unethical but not illegal.

You know, some libraries have a Rare Books room. He could check them out, "lose" them, sell them for hundreds of dollars each, and repay the library whatever pittance they originally spent on the volume. That would be a much more shrewd course of business than merely stealing DVDs.

Wow, if you even have to ask this... :hscratch:

I also have a question for everyone... Is it ethical to randomly approach old people on the street, beat the crap out of them, and take all their money? Any opinions??

I'd hate to be this guy's relatives. I can see him now, digging up his mother's bones, trying to pry a ring off her finger with a screwdriver, and then finally taking a pair of shrub trimmers to her handbones to get the ring off.

Yes, this person would probably do just that. And he'd probably screw her corpse afterwords as well, just to "get a good deal".

Maybe libraries should start charging fair market value for "lost" items. I can guarantee you that if I was at a museum and accidently destroyed the Mona Lisa that I would get sued for more than the orginal cost of the paint and canvas.

I think it's debatable as to whether or not smoking pot is unethical.

We'll sum up my thoughts: Your -ahem- "friend" is scum. A dirty, rotten piece of shit for stealing from the library. The sooner "he" gets caught and busted, the better.

Your "friend" is stealing from the community - taking those items out of circulation deprives others the opportunity to see this material without having to pay a large premium. That's why libraries should charge replacement value.

Your "friend" is not a genius; he's a selfish asshole.

Jack gets served.

I was the one who provided the link to that thread where Jack posted that unethical behavior and I don't get any credit for my detective work :(

:lol:

Nothing has been stolen? Your 'friend' is stealing from the library and lying about it. If you have to ask if this is OK or ethical.....

To put it bluntly: Your 'friend' is stealing merchandise and fencing it. Really no different than anyone who breaks into your car, home, etc. takes things and sells them. I'm really hoping your friend sells them to people in other parts of the country on Ebay, that would make it a federal crime for trafficking in stolen goods. That's a felony with a 5 year minimum in Federal "pound you in the ass" prison.

And again... you need to ask if this is OK?

I actually remembered it from the other day when he posted his response to that thread (the losing DVDs one). I just scrolled down to post my response to this thread before reading the others posts.

:hscratch:There are some poor analogies here, but this one takes the cake.

If so, libraries should have better knowledge of what they offer and be keeping these DVDs in the same room.

It's "unethical", but in many cases in today's world that is about the same as "shrewd".

One quick thought -

While it is indeed stealing, "losing" a disc from blockbuster isn't nearly as bad as "losing" one from the library. Your average blockbuster is funded by The Man, and has deep pockets. It's a privately held business, and nobody loses but The Man himself.

Stealing from the library on the other hand - the often under funded library - is stealing from the community. In short, this pathetic shitbag is stealing from all of us. That's magnitudes worse than lifting discs blockbuster.

Don't get me wrong - they both suck. But one outrages me morally a whole lot more.

It's sad that you have to ask our opinion if what your "friend" is doing is ethical. I hope you're not serious. And you won't find justification here either.

I'm having trouble deciding just how unethical this even is. There is no crime. Nothing was stolen (he checked it out) and retributions satisfactory to the library were made. There is no difference between the money he paid then and say if the library was moving and had to liquidate some inventory. If the library sells the DVD at a moving sale substanially lower than its worth, is it unethical to buy it. The question being can you buy community property and sell it for a profit. This often happens at state/city auctions.

The only actual unethical thing he did was the lie about what happened to the DVD. To say he deprived the community of it is to assume it is some significance to society. Salo or The Little Shop of Horros SE being checked out and never retured is no big loss to us all. 99% of the community probably didn't even realize the DVD was there.

that is some shady business. I'm sure if your "friend" has been doing it for a while and can find nothing wrong with "losing" DVDs from the library, I'm sure a handful of members on a message board isn't going to change his mind. Neither will a "friend" that says "HEY WAIT BUT THATS WRONG!". Hell if he has been doing this for a while we can safely assume he doesn't give a shit.

also the fact that he is paying for these DVDs that he supposedly lost, doesn't justify the fact that he is stealing from the library. even if he does pay some sort of replacement cost, I'm sure it won't cover, 1. the prices they really sell for on places like ebay, and 2. if the library will be able to get their hands on another copy.

I would equate this to going into a store and taking a cheaper price tag and sticking on a more expensive item and then getting away with paying the cheaper price. Even though he is paying for the "lost" library DVD, he is not paying what it is really worth or what it would actually cost to replace. Not only is he lying, he is doing so to make a profit. Completely unethical.