08-31-2013, 08:22 PM | #61 | |
Wizard
Posts: 4,812
Karma: 26912940
Join Date: Apr 2010
Device: sony PRS-T1 and T3, Kobo Mini and Aura HD, Tablet
|
Quote:
Helen |
|
09-01-2013, 12:58 AM | #62 | |
Wizard
Posts: 4,896
Karma: 33602910
Join Date: Oct 2010
Device: PocketBook 903 & 360+
|
Consider the whole post quoted.
I don't see the difference between putting money aside for books and going into debt for practical items such as socks and underwear and putting money aside for practical items such as socks and underwear and going into debt for books. The bottom line is the same. Fair compensation for reading a book is a difficult thing to express. Last year there was a thread about authors suing Harlequin over royalties, as they were getting 3-4% on ebooks when the contracts made it sound like they would be getting 50%. But the contracts signed after 2004 were clearer, so it is legal for the publisher to give such a low percentage. I googled average ebook prices for Harlequin, and found this article: Quote:
|
|
Advert | |
|
09-01-2013, 01:03 AM | #63 | |
Wizard
Posts: 4,896
Karma: 33602910
Join Date: Oct 2010
Device: PocketBook 903 & 360+
|
Quote:
|
|
09-01-2013, 01:36 AM | #64 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 9,707
Karma: 32763414
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Krewerd
Device: Pocketbook Inkpad 4 Color; Samsung Galaxy Tab S6
|
Quote:
I don't normally buy Dutch books (most Dutch writers write in genres I don't care about), but as long as this is not 10000% shot down, I will absolutely not buy any ebooks there, even though there were some books in my wishlist which have become available not too long ago. For me, this contract will cost the publisher money (as they won't be able to sell their book to me). |
|
09-01-2013, 10:07 AM | #65 | |
occasional author
Posts: 2,315
Karma: 2064403292
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Wandering God's glorious hills, valleys and plains.
Device: A Franklin BI (before Internet) was the first. I still have it.
|
Quote:
Change the law if it is inadequate. Everyone should be accorded due process. |
|
Advert | |
|
09-01-2013, 10:09 AM | #66 |
eBook Enthusiast
Posts: 85,544
Karma: 93383043
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: UK
Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6
|
|
09-01-2013, 11:51 AM | #67 |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 7,452
Karma: 7185064
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Linköpng, Sweden
Device: Kindle Voyage, Nexus 5, Kindle PW
|
|
09-01-2013, 11:57 AM | #68 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 6,111
Karma: 34000001
Join Date: Mar 2008
Device: KPW1, KA1
|
Quote:
I've created an ebook once, using a scanned, illegal version I found online, of a book of which there isn't an ebook version. That cost me so much time that I probably could have read the 1000 page paper copy that is in my book case, with time to spare. I won't spend any time anymore on fixing ebooks, except for the occasional recurring spelling mistake or bad/missing covers, and putting in the tags that Calibre requires. It's even worse than trying to find a retail version with regard to cost in time. With regard to taxes, I don't know if it's the same in The Netherlands. I don't condone downloading of media; I'm only always pointing out that, at this point in time, it is NOT illegal. Probably the taxes won't cover all the downloads, but that is not my problem. If someone is downloading ebooks of music by the terabytes, he's doing something he shouldn't be doing, in *MY* view, but it's perfectly fine in the *LAW'S* view, at least right now. To be honest, I think the law is right. Downloading copyrighted works should not be illegal. You know why not? Because you can do that without actually knowing it. I've had instances (more than once, actually) where I was contemplating to buy a book. So, I wanted to find some reviews, maybe a sample or two. After searching with google, the first link was a file. The file wasn't a sample; it actually was the entire book, linked *directly by Google*. I downloaded a complete, copyrighted work in PDF-format without even realising it until I opened it. And it happened more than once. Luckily for the publisher and author, I don't read novels in PDF-format. Last edited by Katsunami; 09-01-2013 at 12:02 PM. |
|
09-01-2013, 02:04 PM | #69 | |||||
Grand Master of Flowers
Posts: 2,201
Karma: 8389072
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Naptown
Device: Kindle PW, Kindle 3 (aka Keyboard), iPhone, iPad 3 (not for reading)
|
The issue is not really whether "BRIEN" wants the information; the issue is whether the bookseller can give BRIEN the information. That's the difference between - to use a US example - a landlord voluntarily informing a credit bureau that you have been evicted, and a credit bureau demanding that landlords give them information on all evictions.
The first situation is what it seems we have here (although I haven't looked into the matter more than what I've run across on the Internet) - booksellers are voluntarily giving this info to BRIEN. I don't really see a problem with this. Provided, of course, that there are sufficient due process protections in any subsequent civil action, etc. But the idea that a bookseller couldn't voluntarily use a third party to figure out why a torrent with a given watermark appeared on the internet without using the judicial system strikes me as backwards. (And I'm not sure how the judicial process would really help; noting that you sold a watermarked book to X and only to X, and this book is now available on a download site is more than enough to start an investigation in any legal system I'm familiar with. The idea that an investigator couldn't even talk to X just seems backwards. Quote:
And of course the circumstances of the upload would be relevant to your hacking claim - if all of the books you purchased in the past year appeared on torrent sites in one day, it might support your claim; if all of the books you purchased in the past year appeared on torrent sites within hours of your purchase, a hacking claim is going to be looked at with more skepticism. Quote:
There are too many possible unreasonable approaches to list.. [snip] OK, not several decades, how about: 87 Months in Prison for Copyright Infringement: Fair Sentence or Utter Madness? [/QUOTE] I really don't have a problem with that sentence for a case of wide-scale for profit commercial piracy. Quote:
But it's really most analogous to "Theft of Cable Services", which involves, well, stealing cable services without paying for them. This crime has been routinely prosecuted as such over the past 30 years, despite the cable company not being deprived of "The Golden Girls" by people who commit the crime, and without anyone offering the justification that they wouldn't have subscribed to cable anyway because it's too expensive. (However, it does have its own proof problems, most notably being "I thought/assumed/believed that cable was included in the rent." This isn't a Perry Mason (or even Johnny Cochran) class defense, but in most cases it's sufficiently troublesome that cable companies will just shut it off and not try for a prosecution. If you're actually caught in the act running a cable from the pole to your house, "I thought cable was included in the rent and they forgot to run the line" doesn't work nearly as well.) Quote:
Quote:
So in your example, the children who inherited a €150k house would owe no inheritance tax. If they inherited a €750k house, they would owe €18.2k in taxes (no taxes on the first €600; 10% on the next €118k (=€11.8k); and 20% on the remaining €32k (=€6.4k). So total inheritance tax on €750k would be €18.2K, or 2.4% of the value. But I digress. |
|||||
09-01-2013, 02:09 PM | #70 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 6,111
Karma: 34000001
Join Date: Mar 2008
Device: KPW1, KA1
|
Quote:
The €600K you mention (it's actually €616K) is only from partner to partner, such as married couples. The exemption amount from parent to children is €19K. |
|
09-01-2013, 05:40 PM | #71 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 7,149
Karma: 39600000
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: near Philadelphia USA
Device: Kindle Kids Edition, Fire HD 10 (11th generation)
|
We are all for due process. The problem is what the process should be. The process for a parking ticket is not the same as the process for robbery.
When a security guard thinks he or she saw someone pocket a book, and then physically detains the person as they confusedly remove a book from their pocket, and the accused then sues the store, at considerable cost in legal fees with little chance of success, that's due process. If you want draconian fines, as Harry does, the accused will commonly countersue, and there be a routinely complicated process with lots of involvement by tax-supported law enforcement. If you want mild sanctions, as I do (example: Copyright Alert System), then there still is due process, but appropriate to lesser harm done in case of injustice. If you want a full monty criminal beyond-a-reasonable-doubt process, expect full monty punishment. Quote:
Credit bureaus provide people who issue credit with a product they consider essential (reports on your credit history). In return, the creditors have to both pay money and pony up information about debtors. I don't see how this is different from "demanding information." You could object that the whole US legal system is unfair. But if we are going to do that, I don't think you can argue that book pirates are an especially persecuted group. |
|
09-01-2013, 05:57 PM | #72 |
Wizard
Posts: 4,896
Karma: 33602910
Join Date: Oct 2010
Device: PocketBook 903 & 360+
|
|
09-01-2013, 05:59 PM | #73 | ||
Wizard
Posts: 4,896
Karma: 33602910
Join Date: Oct 2010
Device: PocketBook 903 & 360+
|
Quote:
Quote:
I was thinking about the 'Authors Sue Harlequin Enterprises for eBook Royalties' thread. It wasn't 2-3%, it was 3-4%, but you posted on that thread so I don't see how you can say that the minimum that an author gets is 20-30%. And I didn't say 10 sales, I said pirated 10 times. Someone who only sells 10 books isn't successful enough to be pirated. |
||
09-01-2013, 06:18 PM | #74 | |
Wizard
Posts: 1,035
Karma: 12018368
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Canada
Device: Sony PRS-650, Kobo Clara
|
Quote:
rjb |
|
09-01-2013, 07:11 PM | #75 | |
Wizard
Posts: 4,812
Karma: 26912940
Join Date: Apr 2010
Device: sony PRS-T1 and T3, Kobo Mini and Aura HD, Tablet
|
Quote:
Emotionally I believe it was easier for them to put a little money aside for luxury items, which books were for us. They got most books from the library, and the books they did buy were generally illustrated children's books AFAIK,. But as I said we always had better than adequate food and a comic book or an ice cream on payday As to fair compensation I do not have any idea, and I doubt that it could be easily derived. Too much is subjective. For some it takes one hour to read 200 pages and for others it takes 12 hours. If we equate it to movies to see 2 hours in a cinema is maybe $16 (in Canada) on TV practically nothing. Buying the DVD may cost a bit, but multiple people can watch for that price. As far as I can determine (mainly from Hennen's American Public Library Ratings) libraries pay approximately $0.78 per circulation for ebooks and around $0.75 for paper books per circulation. This is what is paid to the publisher. Many paper books are leased and I believe the cost is a bit higher then overall. Ebooks actually cost the libraries less per circulation though as there is little overhead for staff or property cost or building construction or maintenance or property rental, unbelievably high in the case of smaller libraries. Overhead for ebooks is generally what overdrive charges. Maybe I am being totally off topic here but it seems relevant. Your guess is as good as mine, but a tax on CD's and hard drives etc. is unlikely to yield even a penny a copy to the authors IMO. Small bit of trivia. harlequin books were not all romances in the early 50's and retailed for 35 cents to 95 cents way back then. http://www.romancewiki.com/Harlequin...By_The_Numbers Helen |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Anti-piracy group wants to catch e-book pirates; vendors now required to help them | Alexander Turcic | News | 61 | 08-27-2013 05:32 PM |
I have a better anti-piracy device | Sydney's Mom | General Discussions | 74 | 06-30-2013 09:37 PM |
Hadopi (French Anti-Piracy Group) Not Long for this World | Ninjalawyer | News | 50 | 08-12-2012 08:56 PM |
Piracy Irony: Copyright firm fined after stealing music for anti-piracy ad. | spindlegirl | News | 4 | 07-21-2012 06:41 AM |
Anti-Piracy group wants to ban you from talking about piracy | Nate the great | News | 39 | 06-06-2012 05:20 AM |