> "I also say that I am naturally free to do whatever with the book - and the information therein - once I have obtained it."
In US law, you are free to resell the book, but you are not free to produce a copy to resell (or to keep the copy and resell the original). You bought a copy of the book, not the rights to redistribute the content as you see fit; those still reside with the author. Others have made the argument about incentivizing content producers by granting those rights, so I will not rehash them.
(I reject your treatment of "natural law" as the only relevant system; I recognize the additional value of "common law" and "positive law".)
In US law, you are free to resell the book, but you are not free to produce a copy to resell (or to keep the copy and resell the original). You bought a copy of the book, not the rights to redistribute the content as you see fit; those still reside with the author. Others have made the argument about incentivizing content producers by granting those rights, so I will not rehash them.
(I reject your treatment of "natural law" as the only relevant system; I recognize the additional value of "common law" and "positive law".)