Quote:
Originally Posted by Catlady
What is the point of watermarking? Is it just something that will allow the uploaders to file-sharing sites to be identified?
But isn't there still the problem of trying to identify all the pirated files in the first place out of the thousands and thousands of files on such sites?
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Nobody needs to identify "all the pirated files." Nobody owns nor has the right to control use of "all the pirated files." Each copyright owner only needs to track down his or her own files--and if those are distributed watermarked versions, tracked down the point-of-sale, and take action as desired.
It's possible the legit buyer of the ebook has a computer that was hacked, or some other situation that boils down to "did not release those books." In which case, fine; our courts have methods for dealing with "your ID is attached to this thing we found in an illegal setting." The courts know that your fingerprints on the weapon doesn't mean you used it to murder someone, and your watermarked ebooks on a torrent site doesn't mean you uploaded them... but that is enough evidence to investigate further.