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Old 06-14-2010, 02:50 PM   #12
Shaggy
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Moejoe View Post
Once it's in a digital format and a copy gets out onto the internet, you can't do a thing.
It's bigger than that. There doesn't even need to be a digital format. "Bad" people scan physical books/pictures and then release them as digital.

I think the lesson here is that as soon as you release your work out into the public, you've essentially given up control of it. Yes, there are laws, etc, but the only way to maintain complete control is to not publish.

If you want to try to make a living off of your work, you have to give people access to it. Some people will use that access to do things you don't like. In the end, there's nothing you can really do about it. The question is, does it really hurt you enough to be worth worrying about?

In your case, you obviously wanted people to have access to the book for free. Once it was put on Scribd, even more people had access to the book for free. Was that really a bad thing? You mentioned that you probably would have agreed to it if they asked you. So, just because they didn't ask, you decided to have it taken down?

You mentioned it was the "principle" that mattered. What is the more important principle here? That people should be given access to your work and the publicity it brings, or the illusion of control?

I'm not trying to be critical of your decision, I'm just trying to see if I can get you to look at it in a different way.
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