Book 'pirate' goes underground after being named by Terry Goodkind

[Harper Kingsley]

Would just like to add, after researching the situation... Don't mess with Terry Goodkind. He knows where you live.

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by charlesatan

If Goodkind just called out the person, that would be fine (i.e., using myself as an example, Charles A Tan pirated Book X at Site X).

Sharing other personal information about myself arguably isn't (the qualifier since the ethics of the act, and whether the info posted counts unethical, is debatable). (This was the info posted by the way https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater)

Thanks for the Facebook info - without your link I would not have seen the content in situ.

Yes my thoughts also that it's one thing to name and shame, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the date of birth info being included.

I note that the deviantART and Twitter accounts are now deactivated.

[heySkippy]

Heh, very nice and good for Goodkind. There's not much worse than a stinking thief.

[avantman42]

Originally Posted by DarkScribe

Hmmm. Quick way to make money. Mislead someone into thinking that I have pirated their book, have them accuse me of theft and then sue for damage to my reputation.

This is the problem, in my opinion. I can understand Goodkind's frustration and annoyance, but I doubt he can be sure that he hasn't caused an innocent a lot of grief.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

The only two wrongs I see is the guy pirating the book and then outing himself by bragging about it.

This.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

I have to admit that i find the pirates' arrogance and pompous attitude truly fascinating. Going into a discussion with someone like that has to be utterly fruitless.

and this.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by avantman42

This is the problem, in my opinion. I can understand Goodkind's frustration and annoyance, but I doubt he can be sure that he hasn't caused an innocent a lot of grief.

Given that the guy publicly bragged about what he's done, that doesn't seem to be very likely.

[Solicitous]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

That's pretty much my opinion, too.

Terry's actions have been bugging me since I first read it and couldn't figure out why, but then it sunk in - it's that it happened on Facebook. Just about every time I've seen someone do something like this on FB, it comes across as childish and not very well thought-out. I use FB, but I don't take anything there seriously.

But then, much of his self-pub adventure so far seems not very well thought-out but I guess that's more suited for the other thread.

Ah good old Facebook. Don't use it, never intend to. Your comment made me recall on several occasions reading in the media about people protesting against a cause on FB. "Keyboard Warriors", all band together and from the comfort of their couch stand up for what is right and wrong, join a FB group and post their thoughts away. Recently near where i live there is the threat of the government closing national park tracks, and I read in the paper that a group was started on FB to protest against it.

Anyway back on topic I am in the middle to whether he went overboard. On one hand he put some real work and wrote a story, and was prepared to sell it to everyone for a reasonable price - then someone decides to pirate his story and give it away for free. So from that perspective I can understand the frustration.

But on the other hand he could have contacted the pirate and said "look, cut it out" and taken things further had the piracy continued.

Maybe all of this could have been avoided if we had more restrictive and effective DRM

[DiapDealer]

Like sands though the hour-glass...

[avantman42]

Originally Posted by avantman42

This is the problem, in my opinion. I can understand Goodkind's frustration and annoyance, but I doubt he can be sure that he hasn't caused an innocent a lot of grief.

Originally Posted by HarryT

Given that the guy publicly bragged about what he's done, that doesn't seem to be very likely.

The thing is, someone could choose to set up an account under someone else's name and use that to publicly brag about pirating a book. I don't know what kind of evidence Goodkind has that the account that was used to brag does actually belong to the person that he posted information about. Maybe he has a ton of evidence, but I suspect his evidence is slim at best, and that is what makes me uncomfortable.

[fjtorres]

Seems like Goodkind went middle road between Kress and Ellison.
For those that might not be aware, Ellison has been very vocal and aggressive about going after pirates. With some success, too:
http://www.authorslawyer.com/c-ellison.shtml

[fjtorres]

Checked out the Kress/pirate exchanges.
The comments are interesting.
The pirates' rationalizations and attitudes are frankly, offensive.
I'm not in the Ellison "off with their hands" hardcore camp but that kind of thinking...
Reminds me of Heinlein's solution: shoot'em between the eyes and bill the parents for the bullet.

The world doesn't need leeches like those *commercial* pirates. Contribute nothing but expect the world to cater to their whims. No sense of ethics.

Goodkind's guy, on the other hand, looks like a casual idiot: name and shame sounds about appropriate.

[Catlady]

I don't condone the piracy, or the stupidity of bragging about it, but it still seems to me that the author's response was totally disproportionate.

There are a lot of nuts. Suppose some misguided fan were to go after this pirate--that would be Goodkind's responsibility.

I think that a letter threatening legal action would probably have been more than enough.

I don't know anything about this author, but I now have an image of him as a nasty jerk and a self-righteous bully.

[Barcey]

Not a smart move, better to deal with it via a standard take down notice and not make it personal. It's not likely to change general behavior other then making pirates more careful about protecting their identity. For the specific person he attacked he either convinced him to not share his books anymore or made a life long enemy that will go out of his way to harm him in the future. My guess is the later.

[shrug] I guess it made him feel better and gave himself a bunch of free publicity.

[wgrimm]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Seems like Goodkind went middle road between Kress and Ellison.
For those that might not be aware, Ellison has been very vocal and aggressive about going after pirates. With some success, too:
http://www.authorslawyer.com/c-ellison.shtml

I did a usenet search, and everything Goodkind has written is probably posted. Anonymity is easy through usenet, this idiot that Goodkind caught had to want to be known.

Why would anyone pirate any of the ghastliness that Goodkind has spewed forth?