Is Rapidshare a promoter of e-book piracy?

Alexander Turcic · 10-04-2009, 12:14 PM

Where do users commonly get their pirated e-books from? NYTimes columnist Randall Stross asked himself the question and so he hired an antipiracy organization from California to do a search on how many e-book copies of Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol" were available free on the Web. They came up with 166 copies on 11 different sites; 102 of the copies were located at Rapidshare.

In case you don't know, Rapidshare is a hugly popular one-click hoster with headquarters in Switzerland, claiming to have storage capacity of several petabytes.

The Association of American Publishers agrees with the findings that Rapidshare is the big daddy for illegally sharing e-book content.

Quote:

"As far as we can tell, RapidShare is the largest host site of pirated material," Mr. McCoyd [executive director at AAP] said. "Some publishers are saying half of all infringements are linked to it."

And Rapidshare's response? A spokeswoman said that her company wasn't responsible for content uploaded by its users, and that it's the publishers' responsibility to send take-down requests, requiring a link to each individual download address ("it's left to the publishers to find all instances of a given book title on RapidShare’s servers").

Rapidshare's advice to the publishers: to "give away most of their content for free" (as the popular rock group Nine Inch Nails did).

Read the full article: Will Books Be Napsterized? (registration required)

Thanks to Tim for the hint!

tdavie · 10-04-2009, 12:21 PM

From Usenet and Bittorrent. I admit I download more than I buy, but what I do buy does not have DRM.

Tom

TadW · 10-04-2009, 12:24 PM

Considering that most people use Google for almost everything, it is very likely that Rapidshare is also the main source for those who want to share books illegally. Obviously, there are other places as well, but they will always be a niche and not of interest to the average John Doe e-book pirate.

DawnFalcon · 10-04-2009, 12:59 PM

Heh.

There are a lot of links. It dosn't mean that it's where people actually get books. Many "Rapidshare" links you see in a google link are fake, and allways have been. Try private bittorrent trackers, p2p networks...

TadW · 10-04-2009, 01:04 PM

What I don't understand how Rapidshare can get through with this. Small sites go down immediately when they have some kind of infringing material on their site. In some countries, Rapidshare has been ordered to make sure no illegal content is present on their servers. And yet - they continue as they always have, and it seems nobody can do anything against it.

pieter · 10-04-2009, 01:06 PM

I doubt rapishare is the main source for the illegal downloading of ebooks. IRC, Usenet and Torrent sites are in my estimations as much bigger sources. And I wouldn't be suprised if my 10+ years of experience in piracy (yarrr!) beats some sort of "anti-piracy" company that just wants to make money by telling copyright companies what they want to hear.

I do agree with Rapidshare that piracy will prevail and that their only solution will be found in the embracing of the idea of giving things out for free!

But no matter, some people will keep buying overpriced ebooks that are more expensive than their paperback (or even hardcover in some cases) equivalent and as such will keep feeding the machine and supporting with their money all sort of draconian laws and restricting technologies. (Instead of blaming pirates for DRM for example, ask yourself WHO paid for the development of it? yes, that's right. The people that buy overpriced books!)

ardeegee · 10-04-2009, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TadW

What I don't understand how Rapidshare can get through with this.

Rapidshare is just a site where end users can upload files-- there is a disclaimer that you aren't supposed to upload anything you don't have the legal right to upload, and Rapidshare takes down specific files when they are told to. Unless you want the ability to share files of any type at all to be outlawed, I don't see much more that Rapidshare should be doing. It is the owner of the intellectual property that has the obligation of protecting their content, not Rapidshare's.

Rapidshare, though, is just one of multiple popular file storage sites, including Sendspace, Megaupload, Depositfiles, Megashares, 4shared, and others. You can use them for "legal" sharing of files or "illegal" ones, just like any other file sharing method.

The only reason I can think of for Rapidshare to be singled out for an article is because there is a search engine for Rapidshare files at http://rapidlibrary.com/ (which turns up on google searches early and often.)

But I agree, torrents (especially bulk torrents) and usenet, and possibly emule and avaxhome are likely bigger sources than Rapidshare alone.

Alexander Turcic · 10-04-2009, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardeegee

It is the owner of the intellectual property that has the obligation of protecting their content-- not Rapidshare's.

A German judge would disagree with you. See this article: Court Orders Rapidshare To Proactively Filter Content.

gollu · 10-04-2009, 02:05 PM

I don't see the point of mentioning RS in regards to ebooks in particular, as all kind of copyrighted material is being uploaded there. They talk of petabytes (I am in my engineer studies and have no idea how much that is), so quite sure there are a few movies, songs and porn industry blockbusters there.
All of the video and audio media went pirate the moment it was digitalized, so why one expects books will be different? As mp3 sells go and rise in numbers with the $1 per song scheme, the same will happen when book prices become sane.

ardeegee · 10-04-2009, 02:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

A German judge would disagree with you. See this article: Court Orders Rapidshare To Proactively Filter Content.

Godwin.

AnemicOak · 10-04-2009, 02:12 PM

What sites like Rapidshare, Mediafire, 4Shared, Box, FilePanda and dozens of other do is make it easier for the "average joe" to get stuff. My guess would be much more content changes hands via IRC and Torrents.

As far as if they promote piracy or not I don't know, but they don't really discourage it either.

Ea · 10-04-2009, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

Read the full article: Will Books Be Napsterized?.

You have to register to be able to log in to NY Times.

arvsinha · 10-04-2009, 02:22 PM

In the same vein, you may even say that Google is the biggest promoter of piracy - this is where you search and find the pirated ebooks.
And This is how the authors of the study found the copies of Dan Brown's Lost Symbol.

IMHO, Really narrow minded view - like shooting the messenger.

rhadin · 10-04-2009, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gollu

They talk of petabytes (I am in my engineer studies and have no idea how much that is), . . .

1 petabyte = 1 million gigabytes

Alexander Turcic · 10-04-2009, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ea

You have to register to be able to log in to NY Times.

Thanks, I didn't notice (as I am always logged in there). Updated the first post accordingly.

10-04-2009, 12:24 PM	#3
TadW Uebermensch Posts: 2,467 Karma: 8144 Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Italy Device: Kindle	Considering that most people use Google for almost everything, it is very likely that Rapidshare is also the main source for those who want to share books illegally. Obviously, there are other places as well, but they will always be a niche and not of interest to the average John Doe e-book pirate. __________________ "It doesn't matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don't read anymore." - Apple's Steve Jobs, Jan 15, 2008

10-04-2009, 01:04 PM	#5
TadW Uebermensch Posts: 2,467 Karma: 8144 Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Italy Device: Kindle	What I don't understand how Rapidshare can get through with this. Small sites go down immediately when they have some kind of infringing material on their site. In some countries, Rapidshare has been ordered to make sure no illegal content is present on their servers. And yet - they continue as they always have, and it seems nobody can do anything against it. __________________ "It doesn't matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don't read anymore." - Apple's Steve Jobs, Jan 15, 2008

10-04-2009, 02:12 PM	#11
AnemicOak Bookaholic Posts: 2,517 Karma: 5683 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Minnesota Device: Opus / Kindle 2 / Sony 505 / HTC Hero (Android Phone)	What sites like Rapidshare, Mediafire, 4Shared, Box, FilePanda and dozens of other do is make it easier for the "average joe" to get stuff. My guess would be much more content changes hands via IRC and Torrents. As far as if they promote piracy or not I don't know, but they don't really discourage it either. __________________ ~Brian "The test of any good fiction is that you should care something for the characters; the good to succeed, the bad to fail. The trouble with most fiction is that you want them all to land in hell, together, as quickly as possible." - Mark Twain

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10-04-2009, 12:21 PM	#2
tdavie Member Posts: 24 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Winterpeg, Manitoba, Canada Device: Sony 505	From Usenet and Bittorrent. I admit I download more than I buy, but what I do buy does not have DRM. Tom

10-04-2009, 12:59 PM	#4
DawnFalcon Loser Hacker Posts: 453 Karma: 510 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Midlands UK Device: none	Heh. There are a lot of links. It dosn't mean that it's where people actually get books. Many "Rapidshare" links you see in a google link are fake, and allways have been. Try private bittorrent trackers, p2p networks...

10-04-2009, 01:06 PM	#6
pieter Connoisseur Posts: 59 Karma: 501 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: CyBook Gen3	I doubt rapishare is the main source for the illegal downloading of ebooks. IRC, Usenet and Torrent sites are in my estimations as much bigger sources. And I wouldn't be suprised if my 10+ years of experience in piracy (yarrr!) beats some sort of "anti-piracy" company that just wants to make money by telling copyright companies what they want to hear. I do agree with Rapidshare that piracy will prevail and that their only solution will be found in the embracing of the idea of giving things out for free! But no matter, some people will keep buying overpriced ebooks that are more expensive than their paperback (or even hardcover in some cases) equivalent and as such will keep feeding the machine and supporting with their money all sort of draconian laws and restricting technologies. (Instead of blaming pirates for DRM for example, ask yourself WHO paid for the development of it? yes, that's right. The people that buy overpriced books!)

10-04-2009, 02:05 PM	#9
gollu Unsullied Posts: 31 Karma: 176 Join Date: Jul 2008 Device: lap top	I don't see the point of mentioning RS in regards to ebooks in particular, as all kind of copyrighted material is being uploaded there. They talk of petabytes (I am in my engineer studies and have no idea how much that is), so quite sure there are a few movies, songs and porn industry blockbusters there. All of the video and audio media went pirate the moment it was digitalized, so why one expects books will be different? As mp3 sells go and rise in numbers with the $1 per song scheme, the same will happen when book prices become sane.

10-04-2009, 02:22 PM	#13
arvsinha Intrepid Explorer Posts: 20 Karma: 28 Join Date: Jul 2008 Device: Kindle 2	In the same vein, you may even say that Google is the biggest promoter of piracy - this is where you search and find the pirated ebooks. And This is how the authors of the study found the copies of Dan Brown's Lost Symbol. IMHO, Really narrow minded view - like shooting the messenger.