Here a hint to all of those aspiring authors. Unless you write something creative and unique you won't make a living writing books. Sorry, just how it is. There is a couple thousand years of books available, you can't justify a huge price against all of that competition unless you have something new to bring to the table worth buying. The landscape has changed and the access to the information and old books can no longer be controlled. You can blame piracy, but without the monopoly of distribution anymore, the laws of supply and demand are starting to take hold in the marketplace.
As to the FA, I'm not seeing the problem. For the longest time certain information has been hard to come by and in the hands of the rich and powerful for the most part or locked away where the average person can't access it. Having all of this text available easily online is not a problem in my book. It should be encouraged.
Am I going to defend someone who goes and downloads the latest book on Day 1, no. Am I going to shed a tear for the publishing company of someone who downloads a book by an author dead for 10 years instead of buying it? The answer is no to that as well.
I can only hope this is a huge step forward to making knowledge available to all. I fear that most will take it as a way to get the latest Stephen King books or Playboy magazine for free though.
If copyright was more sane the newer works would be respected and older ones available and people would respect the law for the most part. When you are heavy handed against your customers they revolt. You then give your non-customer a chance to take the high ground based on your actions. (Not saying they are justified, but you don't know if that downloader is someone who wants a non-DRM digital copy of their ebook for a backup or just a plain old thief)