Scalzi is quite active on the nets and pretty tech-savvy, so he understands that DRM itself isn't a barrier to anyone but the casual readers. He also understands that a great deal can get done between a creator and their fans by simple communication, so he put up his four main points for how he'd like things to go. As he sees it, personal uses are great; putting it out into the wilds of the Internet is probably bad karma. He notes that there's a big free sample (5 chapters) already posted so people can try before buying. Above all, remember that this e-book was written by a person who's trying to make his living and support his family by writing books like this.

If you like what he does and want him to do more, then guidelines like these are probably the best way to get what you want. This is one reason that sponsor-type models have intuitive appeal to me: it's trivially easy for me to acquire a set of bits on my electronic devices, but it's remarkably hard to inspire, encourage, and support the kinds of creation that lead me to want those bits.