I have never understood why a digital good isn't subject to the same protections as the physical one. Honestly, this sort of behavior only encourages piracy. Oh, I don't have the same rights if I buy your ebook? Ok then, I guess I won't.

Don't they have the same protections?

I think it's perfectly fine to download an ebook and mail somebody your harddrive for them to read it no?

I'm not sure it's legal for you to photocopy a physical book and mail them those photocopies even if you burn your book.

You typically can't just mail a hard drive: you have to share access to the account that was used to purchase the ebook.

That would likely violate the terms of service for whatever company the account was created with. Provisions against password/account sharing are pretty common.

Well, I'm not claiming it's practical; I'm just saying its the same.

Rather than mailing your friend a hard drive, you could mail them a door key and they can come over and use your computer to read the ebook or your couch to read the book.

>I have never understood why a digital good isn't subject to the same protections as the physical one

Because digital and physical goods aren't the same thing. Equal rights principles presuppose that two things are equivalent. Unequal things can be treated unequally.

Each copy of a physical book is mutually exclusive, a library can't buy one copy and then lend it to a thousand people at the same time. Placing limits on how digital goods are distributed is actually how you restore some equality in regards to the property rights of the author.