Nothing, my Sweet, just ignore me. 
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That’s nigh on impossible…
What can I say? 
Btw: Any attention you give me will be most gratefully received.
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Now, now Harbal, you know flattery will get you absolutely nowhere.
Besides, I’ve got my hands full. I’m still trying to navigate my way past the French immigration authorities…
Too scary for me 
I know that flattery won’t, but I live in hope that sincerity will. 
Are you moving to France, or something? 
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Nah, the French can’t handle me!
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Even so, one must surely appreciate the opportunity to try.
I haven’t clicked on any of the links, so maybe it explains more when you do but I am always unsure about offers of free books / free music etc.
When one accesses books which are still in Copyright for free online, what is the legal position?
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Yes, I wondered about the copyright position too.
Copyright laws do vary from country to country, I recall some years ago all George Orwell’s books were out of copyright in Australia and freely available on line as ebooks from one of the Uni’s whereas in the UK they were still subject to copyright.
Google tried this once but I think even that behemoth ran into trouble
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Hello Boot.
This might address your concerns:
Did you read the article?
It wasn’t at all comforting basically saying if they are subject to copyright then it is illegal.
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Not if you are reading or teaching it for educational purposes. 
Ummm…
The circumstances under which anyone, never mind the over 50s, read a Stephen King book for educational purposes would be very limited.
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But not impossible.
Thanks @Megalodon for looking it up but I’m afraid the article doesn’t address my concerns, partly because I’m in UK and the article is about US copyright law and partly because the author of the article contradicts himself several times - I’m afraid some of what he has written doesn’t make sense, so I would not take their opinion as authoritative fact.
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I apologize if I offended anyone by posting this thread. I’m not trying to get the forum into any trouble or anything like that.
I wouldn’t worry too much no one seems offended at all just a normal discussion (though to be honest I am surprised one of the usual suspects hasn’t leapt in quoting some obscure forum rule).
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I haven’t taken any offence, @Megalodon and I don’t wish to pour cold water on you kindly sharing the book links.
I was just asking the question because I’m not sure how things stand legally and I couldn’t find a definite official answer online. I wouldn’t want to unwittingly breach the copyright law and get into trouble and I’m sure you wouldn’t either.
I know I can “borrow” books online for free from the library which has already paid the copyright fees and I can download books for free which are out of copyright. I’m just not sure how to check whether other websites offering free books are doing it legally and have covered the issue of copyright fees.
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Mods you mean?