Comics piracy crackdown

[Krystian Galaj]

Originally Posted by stustaff

Actually thats a better way of explaining it I'm more clear on what you mean now and I do see where you are coming from. but for me the word theft could never be used as you mean it! purely due to confusion! Theft for me means taking something from someone and the act of theft means it denies the owner access thats how i know its theft or has been stolen.

If I make a copy of something then the original owner is not denied use of the item, it may still be illegal if i didnt have permission but to me it is not theft anynore than borrowing that book from someone would be.

The problem here is a misuse of the word "property". Ideas can't be property. Any idea released upon the world from the mind of its author immediately belongs to the whole society. It's as it should be, because the author is a part of society, creation of the society. The author is using concepts society taught, words in language used by society, builds story on values important to the society. The work extends the culture of the society.

In most countries, the author gets a temporary monopoly to copy the creation, granted by the state. That's called copyright. This in theory enabled the author to gain money for the contribution to culture, and encourages to create more. However, unlike people in business of exploiting copyright law tell you ( by coining nonsense terms like 'intellectual property' ), it has nothing to do with ownership or property.

I know, most of my rants say the same thing, over and over. So today I'll link something new and interesting - viewpoint of Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame) on copyright law and content value: http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/the_ad...content_value/

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

Yeah, Marvel and DC have behaved like scum toward creators. That doesn't give the world the right to infringe on their rights.

Maybe not, but it does explain why nobody has any sympathy for them. They basically ignored the creation and distribution of digital comics until they thought there was enough demand that there might be some profit in them. At that point they stamped all over the people who created that demand, and launched an inferior product.

[junkyardwillie]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

If you think Marvel's app is great, you've obviously never used CDisplay, because they are worlds appart in terms of usability.

I've used CDisplay and it works a lot better than the Marvel app that is true but for a web based application the Marvel app works very well and functions quite well as a comic reader. It is confusing that a free application such as CDisplay could work so much better than Marvel's but at least they are trying to figure out a way to get their comics online in a way that doesn't open themselves up to blatant piracy like saying here you can just pay a fee and download the comic. I'm sure that part of the reason that the Marvel app works so much worse than CDisplay is for some sort of DRM. DC on the other hand hasn't had any mention of a digital comic distribution.

It would also be nice if Marvel got the new comics up on there a bit quicker, some series are way behind from their paper counterparts

[L.J. Sellers]

As an author I don't worry about digital piracy. It seems like a pointless battle, and I have too many other things to worry about that are within my control. The author JA Konrath is conducting an experiment to see if he can prove piracy doesn't really affect books sales. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2010/0...his-ebook.html

L.J.

[PKFFW]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

I don't think there is any more people getting unauthorised content now than there ever has been, if you include all the people who used to buy it on CDR as well as the people who downloaded it.

If you honestly believe this it makes me question the validity of the evidence you have presented in support of your past arguments.

Cheers,
PKFFW

[mr ploppy]

What makes you think there is more now than there was before? Because it is easier to detect and therefore measure? If more people are infringing copyright now when they weren't before, how does that explain the rise in entertainment industry profits? Wouldn't they be going down rather than up?

[J. Strnad]

"Does that just apply to your new re-write, and anything else you might have written? Only with the one that I downloaded you give people the right to distribute it as they see fit, with no real restrictions at all other than making it into a real book or making a film of it."

I have no idea what the legal situation is, but clearly at that time I'd given up all hope of getting a nickel from Risen (and was probably clinically depressed at the time). It was probably a stupid thing to do, to give it away, but I really don't care much if you pass it around.

I'd rather you didn't put it up on a "free ebook" site, if you're asking my druthers. Soon I'd like to make Risen available as an ebook and if I can make a few bucks, pay some bills, I'll be happy, so yeah, I'd rather that people pay the modest amount I'll charge.

What you do now is up to you and your personal moral sense. You know my preference, but you have the "gotcha" in your pocket if you're intent on posting Risen or somesuch. You have to decide what's more important, what's right, etc.

I understand why people aren't sympathetic toward Marvel and/or DC. But we all have to have our own moral compasses and I think it's better to rise above them than to stoop to their level, which is basically amoral, to be human rather than corporate.

[HansTWN]

Now there is a new concept -- authors have bills to pay! Do they actually eat and drink like regular people? And let me propose another radical new idea. Those that download their books actually pay something to help the authors instead of just thinking of saving themselves a few bucks?

I know it sounds crazy, just a silly idea. After all, the author probably just wrote it on a wordprocessor and all he or she did was create a series of 0s and 1s. How can that be worth anything?

[junkyardwillie]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

Now there is a new concept -- authors have bills to pay! Do they actually eat and drink like regular people? And let me propose another radical new idea. Those that download their books actually pay something to help the authors instead of just thinking of saving themselves a few bucks?

I know it sounds crazy, just a silly idea.

That's why there is ComicCon

[PKFFW]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

What makes you think there is more now than there was before? Because it is easier to detect and therefore measure?

No, because it is far more easier to do. When something is far more easier to do, more people do it.

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

If more people are infringing copyright now when they weren't before, how does that explain the rise in entertainment industry profits? Wouldn't they be going down rather than up?

By your own past reasoning the fact that industry profits are up should support the fact more people are infringing. Haven't you previously stated that studies have shown that the infringers are the biggest buyers as well?

Cheers,
PKFFW

[PKFFW]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

Now there is a new concept -- authors have bills to pay! Do they actually eat and drink like regular people? And let me propose another radical new idea. Those that download their books actually pay something to help the authors instead of just thinking of saving themselves a few bucks?

I know it sounds crazy, just a silly idea. After all, the author probably just wrote it on a wordprocessor and all he or she did was create a series of 0s and 1s. How can that be worth anything?

Don't you know that if authors have bills to pay and food to put on the table they should just go out and get a "real job" like the rest of us!!!

If they didn't write the book just for the pure love of creating something for others to read and enjoy then we don't want their capitalist, greedy, writing for profit piece of junk anyway!!(but we reserve the right to download it and enjoy it for free and since we would never have paid for it then no harm done)

Cheers,
PKFFW

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by PKFFW

Don't you know that if authors have bills to pay and food to put on the table they should just go out and get a "real job" like the rest of us!!!

If they didn't write the book just for the pure love of creating something for others to read and enjoy then we don't want their capitalist, greedy, writing for profit piece of junk anyway!!(but we reserve the right to download it and enjoy it for free and since we would never have paid for it then no harm done)

Cheers,
PKFFW

Thanks for setting me straight! I must have been on drugs or something. Perhaps too much time staring at that e-ink screen.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

Now there is a new concept -- authors have bills to pay! Do they actually eat and drink like regular people? And let me propose another radical new idea. Those that download their books actually pay something to help the authors instead of just thinking of saving themselves a few bucks?

I know it sounds crazy, just a silly idea. After all, the author probably just wrote it on a wordprocessor and all he or she did was create a series of 0s and 1s. How can that be worth anything?

And probably has a backup copy anyway.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by PKFFW

Don't you know that if authors have bills to pay and food to put on the table they should just go out and get a "real job" like the rest of us!!!

If they didn't write the book just for the pure love of creating something for others to read and enjoy then we don't want their capitalist, greedy, writing for profit piece of junk anyway!!(but we reserve the right to download it and enjoy it for free and since we would never have paid for it then no harm done)

Cheers,
PKFFW

And no lost sales either, since we wouldn't have bought it anyway.

[J. Strnad]

I'll be charging about what it costs out here to buy a beer. So, if people read a free edition of Risen and think, "Hey, I'd buy that guy a beer if I ever ran into him," just buy a download instead!