It is interesting how heated the debate about protection for author’s creations has become.
I came across an interesting article about it at the Scholarly Kitchen that covers it well:
Books are very similar to software in that they are creative and intellectual creations using writing and symbols and tremendous effort, surely.
They evidently need protection for the economic security of their respective authors.
The best writer – overall – about the online word is Daniel J. Solove, although he does not necessarily cover the issue of the ethics of intellectual property concerning creative work, just yet.