EU Piracy Report

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by davidfor

I'm not sure if about Amazon. I think they use geolocation to add some restrictions, but it might just be based on your profile as well.

It's based on the country specified in your account, but if you consistently buy books from a country that differs from that listed, they can (and do) ask for evidence of your residency in the country that you claim to be in.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's based on the country specified in your account, but if you consistently buy books from a country that differs from that listed, they can (and do) ask for evidence of your residency in the country that you claim to be in.

I set up an Amazon UK account and haven't listed anything in my profile. It didn't ask me for an address.

I checked a book I would like to get that is geo-restricted (The Town That Forgot How To Breathe) and it said the book was not available. But if I look at Amazon UK without logging in, the book is available. My guess would be that Amazon used my IP address to figure out my location.

I'd considered installing Tor and setting my location to the UK, just to see if the book would appear. But I haven't cared enough to go through the hassle yet.

[sealbeater]

It seems appropriate to post this.

https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.en.html

[Pulpmeister]

On piracy, the issue does get confused by what is I think excessively broad usage of the word.

Book piracy used to mean unauthorised publishing, for profit, without paying royalties to the author. The publisher was the pirate. The punter buying the book in a shop was unlikely to know, or even understand, and was not a pirate.

In digital publishing, it is sometimes easier to know, if you're reasonably sophisticated, whether a book is a pirate publication or a legitimate one. But many who buy and pay on-line would have no idea, and indeed no interest. ("I paid for it so it must be OK"). The pirate publisher takes advantage of that ignorance.

It is quite a bit different when the author is very well known and current, and the book is on a free site. Even the dimmest of punters must guess that something is not right, and must be knowingly downloading a pirated book. That makes them, I guess, knowing receivers of stolen property, but still not pirates.

Unless of course legislation has widened the meaning of piracy, which I don't know. (Too many countries, too many laws.)

After all, when I buy some much-hyped toys -- say for example an R2-D2 pencil box -- for a kid for Christmas, how can I tell if it is pirated or legit? The fact that I'm buying it in a big store suggests it's legit. Do I have to do research (and how would I go about it?) before buying?

There's a new model of music marketing developing: give the music away free in the first instance; make your money on yourself as a brand, through tours, merchandise, and advertisements hosted on your websites/facebook/etc. The music is in effect the advertising for the muso and the mechandise. Your fans aren't being thought thieves for getting free downloads, either. You are protecting them.

Harder to translate into the book world, I agree. Somehow I can't see myself making a fortune out of Pulpmeister T-shirts, and I couldn't sell out a phone booth for a live tour.

I must think about that Pulpmeister T-shirt idea a bit more....

[pipb]

Talking about piracy: in my country, Romania, people are not that used to paying for eBooks, CDs and DVDs as this kind of content was always available one way or another on torrents or by other sharing means. The law is also not pursuing people using such content. The situation is the same in the eastern part of Europe and is increasing in frequency when going to the east (like Russia).
Things start to change as the EU is putting pressure on local legislation to comply and take action.

[Tarana]

Originally Posted by DNSB

That is still happening. Compare the Harry Potter books as published in the UK and Canada to the editions published in the USA. Even the title changed in one case (Philosopher's Stone in UK/Canada, Sorceror's Stone in USA).

Yes, but the changes were minor in HP and primarily address idioms and words specific to the UK. While it's English either way, British English may not be as clear to North American kids as to North American adults. There is little, if any adaptation in adult books today, at least in sci-fi and suspense mystery, which is what I read. You'd have to ask publishers why they change titles. I'd assume it was to distinguish between altered books, but some of them have the exact same words in both editions.

I find it frustrating trying to get ebooks specific to UK. Before I started losing eyesight, I could buy a book from a British bookshop and have it shipped here. Now that I can't read paper books, I can't get them in ebook. Kobo travelling worked well, but now that my Visa was changed to MasterCard by my bank, it won't work with even Kobo for traveling. Extremely annoying. Now that I have the last of the books for this one series, I'm done with new UK authors outside of my ego-restriction. Just too frustrating.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by Tarana

Yes, but the changes were minor in HP and primarily address idioms and words specific to the UK. While it's English either way, British English may not be as clear to North American kids as to North American adults. There is little, if any adaptation in adult books today, at least in sci-fi and suspense mystery, which is what I read. You'd have to ask publishers why they change titles. I'd assume it was to distinguish between altered books, but some of them have the exact same words in both editions.

I find it frustrating trying to get ebooks specific to UK. Before I started losing eyesight, I could buy a book from a British bookshop and have it shipped here. Now that I can't read paper books, I can't get them in ebook. Kobe travelling worked well, but now that my Visa was changed to MasterCard by my bank, it won't work with even Kobo for traveling. Extremely annoying. Now that I have the last of the books for this one series, I'm done with new UK authors outside of my ego-restriction. Just too frustrating.

American Express will work with overseas purchases.
Apache

[piperclassique]

I own two copies of one paperback. One was second hand, then when I was abroad and wanted to read it again I bought another copy, which I am sure was pirated. In neither case did the author make any money from my purchase. I would have liked to pay the author, but the book is out of print and not available as an ebook. Any comments on morality or legality?

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by piperclassique

I own two copies of one paperback. One was second hand, then when I was abroad and wanted to read it again I bought another copy, which I am sure was pirated. In neither case did the author make any money from my purchase. I would have liked to pay the author, but the book is out of print and not available as an ebook. Any comments on morality or legality?

Do you believe that the author was ripped off, by the publisher of the book that you purchased, second-hand? Arguably, he received his royalty, for that particular book, that specific book, when it was purchased. As far as the "pirated" print book...who knows? We don't know if it's been pirated--piracy, in print, is rare these days--and he may well have earned a royalty on that, or not.

The ability to lend multiple times, or trade, or sell, is one of the things that adds to the value of a print book, over an ebook. It's personalty, whereas arguably, an eBook is not. It's physical, which an ebook isn't--at least there shan't be any argument over that. You're the second-hand buyer, and that's a marketplace that has already ensured that the author won't get his royalty, just through its existence. I fail to see how you can be held to be blamed, in that circumstance, and even if your good intentions didn't exist, ditto.

Moreover, unlike an ebook, the print book exists in a single state. It's one book; you can lend it, but then you don't have it, yourself, and the same with selling it. An eBook, of course, can be replicated endless times, ensuring that the creator/publisher doesn't get paid for those endless copies.

{shrug}.

Hitch

[Little.Egret]

Originally Posted by Apache

American Express will work with overseas purchases.
Apache

The problem is more likely the address verification check than MC/ Visa

I would suggest you get a second credit card anyway, just as a backup in case of problems.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's based on the country specified in your account, but if you consistently buy books from a country that differs from that listed, they can (and do) ask for evidence of your residency in the country that you claim to be in.

"Consistently", in my case, was only one single book I knew Amazon.co.uk carried, and Amazon.com didn't. After I switched my account to the UK and bought the book, I received an (automated) e-mail to either provide proof of me living in the UK and switch my account permanently, or never buy there again on punishment of "severe restrictions of my Amazon experience."

[frahse]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I set up an Amazon UK account and haven't listed anything in my profile. It didn't ask me for an address.

I checked a book I would like to get that is geo-restricted (The Town That Forgot How To Breathe) and it said the book was not available. But if I look at Amazon UK without logging in, the book is available. My guess would be that Amazon used my IP address to figure out my location.

I'd considered installing Tor and setting my location to the UK, just to see if the book would appear. But I haven't cared enough to go through the hassle yet.

"Hey Hombre!" (out of the Hombre movie i mentioned.)
You can choose a proxy that will show an IP from a country that you choose.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by frahse

"Hey Hombre!" (out of the Hombre movie i mentioned.)
You can choose a proxy that will show an IP from a country that you choose.

Yeah, I was thinking I could probably use Tor. I'm not especially interested in 'travelling.' I just wanted to show that you could set up a foreign account without lying (when that was such a big deal for some reason).

(BTW: Hombre is a terrific movie. I also have the Elmore Leonard book it was based on. But haven't read it yet.)

[darryl]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Yeah, I was thinking I could probably use Tor. I'm not especially interested in 'travelling.' I just wanted to show that you could set up a foreign account without lying (when that was such a big deal for some reason).

(BTW: Hombre is a terrific movie. I also have the Elmore Leonard book it was based on. But haven't read it yet.)

What a bizarre situation in the case of The Town that forgot how to breathe. Paper books are of course available for purchase on all the Amazon sites regardless of location. The Kindle edition can be purchased for $A10.99 in Australia and £3.99 (about $A6.99 from the UK. No kindle edition can be purchased from the Us site or, remarkably enough, the Canadian one. The latter is ironic since the author is Canadian and the book apparently has a uniquely Canadian setting. If there are benefits to not making an ebook available in its home market and the largest English speaking market on the face of the earth I'm afraid they escape me. And, of course, all will abide by these restrictions and refrain from travelling, let alone piracy. Won't they?

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by frahse

"Hey Hombre!" (out of the Hombre movie i mentioned.)
You can choose a proxy that will show an IP from a country that you choose.

look under manage your content, settings, country settings and see what it's set to. I'm pretty sure Amazon.uk desn't check your IP, at least for ebooks.