Digital Piracy Hits eBook Industry

[Sweetpea]

Let me quote something:

Booksellers hawked their wares in the shadow of St. Paul's. Most of them sold pamphlets denouncing Protestantism and hair-raising accounts of witches out in the countryside. Some others offered the texts of plays -- as often as not pirated editions, printed up from actors' memories of their lines. The volumes usually proved actors' memories less than they might have been.
Shakespeare ground his teeth as he walked past a stall full of such plays. He'd suffered from stolen and surreptitious publications himself. That he got nothing for them was bad enough. That they mangled his words was worse. What they'd done to his Prince of Denmark ...
He'd added injury to insult by buying his own copy of that one, to see if it were as bad as everyone told him. It wasn't. It was worse.

This is from Ruled Britannia by Harry Turtledove. When I read this part, I was immediately reminded of this thread (and many more of this kind).

I think book piracy is from all ages. It's also something you just can't stop.

[omk3]

Originally Posted by Harmon

Damn, man, might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb. Read them now! Otherwise, you have merely wasted bandwidth...

Okaaaaaay, I might take a peek. Who's gonna know?
Still, my main argument is, I'm saving them for posterity! It's a noble cause!

[Sydney's Mom]

Originally Posted by cassidym

The article also mentions that the publisher did not release the eBook version of the Steven King novel, Under the Dome until several weeks after the pBook version was available to help minimize piracy.

MINIMIZE piracy? Don't they mean ENCOURAGE? I downloaded Under the Dome a couple days after the hardback release. Not so much because I wanted to read it immediately, I certainly have enough to read, but because I felt manipulated. I was willing to pay hbook price for my ebook (even though that is highway robbery) but I resented being forced to buy a dead tree book I didn't want. Now, I did buy the legitimate version when it came out, and I still haven't started reading it. But all of these books that are being delayed? I won't feel I need to buy the legit version whenever they deign to say I am worthy.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by Kellhus

I'm curious how in the world would they be able to count downloads from sites like RS?

Easy. You make up whatever number helps serve your particular agenda.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by cassidym

The article also mentions that the publisher did not release the eBook version of the Steven King novel, Under the Dome until several weeks after the pBook version was available to help minimize piracy.

Tell that to Rowling. The last HP was available on the filesharing sites before the pBook was released.

[HarryT]

Ms. Rowling's opposition to eBooks has nothing to do with piracy considerations; she just appears not to like them. And, in fairness to her, whether or not to release eBook editions is entirely her choice to make.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by Krystian Galaj

Maybe in a 100 years, when copyright on some of those books expires

Copyrights expire?

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

There's a VERY SIMPLE solution for all this. Make photocopiers, word processing apps (someone could, after all, sit there and type it in), screen capturers, OCR apps and digital cameras illegal to own or operate. Then create the Mother Of All DRM and make it illegal to sell an ebook without MOAD installed.

Don't forget paper and pens/pencils/crayons. You can copy a book by hand as well.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

Copyrights expire?

Everywhere except the US, yes .

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Ms. Rowling's opposition to eBooks has nothing to do with piracy considerations; she just appears not to like them. And, in fairness to her, whether or not to release eBook editions is entirely her choice to make.

All true, but has nothing to do with my point.

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Everywhere except the US, yes .

I wouldn't continue to make book on that. Remember when the U.K. went from life + 50 to life + 70? And P.D. works went back into copyright?

When Hollyweird, start trying to lengthen copyright again in the US, (circa 2015-18), don't think they won't be lobbying an increase in the Life + 70 world as well...

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

I wouldn't continue to make book on that. Remember when the U.K. went from life + 50 to life + 70? And P.D. works went back into copyright?

I think there'd be huge opposition in the EU for increasing copyright terms beyond the current "life + 70"; we don't have the same powerful industry lobby that you do in the US. We are (thankfully) still getting new material entering the public domain, year or year.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I think there'd be huge opposition in the EU for increasing copyright terms beyond the current "life + 70"; we don't have the same powerful industry lobby that you do in the US.

Yeah, you'd never see three strikes laws being pushed by that powerful industry lobby over there.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

Yeah, you'd never see three strikes laws being pushed by that powerful industry lobby over there.

No, I'm afraid that I can't agree with you that, but it's entirely unrelated to copyright terms. When record companies lobbied the British government to increase music performance copyright beyond the current 50 years, they were very soundly rebuffed by the government's advisory committee on copyright.

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Ms. Rowling's opposition to eBooks has nothing to do with piracy considerations; she just appears not to like them. And, in fairness to her, whether or not to release eBook editions is entirely her choice to make.

What really bothered me was that I was waiting *patiently* to hand her (and her publishers) my money for the ebook versions - only to find out that she (and her publishers, apparently) considered me to be scum and my money not worth having. So, I downloaded all the pirate editions - including Deathly Hallows - which I had the day before the official release of the dead tree version.

Eventually, I may get over my snit and buy legal copies of HP in ebook format. I note that there are over 100 HP parodies, guides and non-fiction that reference HP in Kindle format. I guess even if Ms. Rowling won't make any ebook income off of HP, *someone* does!

Derek