That is an important point which you are not seeing. I can share a file (an ebook) with my &quot;friend&quot; which i acquired legitimately. He then makes a copy of it and distributes it via a file sharing site.<p>Similarly, I can borrow a book from a public library and make digital copies of it and distribute it. In fact some illegal copies of ebooks you find on file sharing sites are scanned copies of legitimately acquired physical copies (I have personally come across comics with library seals in one of the scanned pirated digital copies). Some pirates also distribute colored xerox copies of physical copies acquired from libraries.<p>The only difference between the two is time taken to do it.