There’s so much fuss about film piracy and illegally downloaded music, but there’s another kind of piracy out there that deserves our attention. As of now, book piracy may be “a quaint cul de sac in the vast file sharing ecology,” but I have a feeling things won’t be as they are.
How is book piracy done? Who usually does this? Is it morally wrong? These are but a few of the questions that the article, “Confessions of a Book Pirate” raises. Interestingly, a self-confessed book pirate himself (he likes to be referred to as The Real Caterpillar) comes out in the open to provide us with answers.
Here are some of the interesting exchanges in the article:
The Millions: Do you consider this “stealing” or is it a gray area?
The Real Caterpillar: I do not pretend that uploading or downloading unpurchased electronic books is morally correct, but I do think it is more of a grey area than some of your readers may…with digital copies, what is “stolen” is not as clear as with physical copies. With physical copies, you can assign a cost to the physical product, and each unit costs x dollars to create. Therefore, if the product is stolen, it is easy to say that an object was stolen that was worth x dollars. With digital copies, it is more difficult to assign cost…
TM: Do you have a sense of where these books are coming from and who is putting them online?
TRC: I assume they are primarily produced by individuals like me – bibliophiles who want to share their favorite books with others. They likely own hundreds of books, and when asked what their favorite book is look at you like you are crazy before rattling of 10-15 authors, and then emailing you later with several more….
TM: What changes in the ebook industry would inspire you to stop participating in ebook file sharing?
TRC: This is a tough question. I guess if every book was available in electronic format with no DRM for reasonable prices…Even in this situation, I would probably still grab a book if I stumbled across the file and thought it might interest me – or if I wanted to check it out before buying a paper copy.
They are of course talking about book piracy in the context of file sharing activities, but I think there is yet another species of book piracy that predated file sharing. I’m talking about photocopying an entire physical, corporeal book. In the Philippines, this is not simply a quaint cul de sac. It has become a common practice.
Whether or not this is morally wrong or legally reprehensible is subject of much debate. What I know is that as the world is changing, so must business models change also. The article talks about some these, for instance placing a “donate” button on the site, or creating an atmosphere where people who are downloading can feel assured that whatever amount it is they’re donating to the site would actually go to the authors themselves.
However, I wonder what kind of business models could work to accommodate the photocopying of an entire book.
Read the rest of the article here.
_____
10th Entry
Ralph Vincent Catedral
How is book piracy done? Who usually does this? Is it morally wrong? These are but a few of the questions that the article, “Confessions of a Book Pirate” raises. Interestingly, a self-confessed book pirate himself (he likes to be referred to as The Real Caterpillar) comes out in the open to provide us with answers.
Here are some of the interesting exchanges in the article:
The Millions: Do you consider this “stealing” or is it a gray area?
The Real Caterpillar: I do not pretend that uploading or downloading unpurchased electronic books is morally correct, but I do think it is more of a grey area than some of your readers may…with digital copies, what is “stolen” is not as clear as with physical copies. With physical copies, you can assign a cost to the physical product, and each unit costs x dollars to create. Therefore, if the product is stolen, it is easy to say that an object was stolen that was worth x dollars. With digital copies, it is more difficult to assign cost…
TM: Do you have a sense of where these books are coming from and who is putting them online?
TRC: I assume they are primarily produced by individuals like me – bibliophiles who want to share their favorite books with others. They likely own hundreds of books, and when asked what their favorite book is look at you like you are crazy before rattling of 10-15 authors, and then emailing you later with several more….
TM: What changes in the ebook industry would inspire you to stop participating in ebook file sharing?
TRC: This is a tough question. I guess if every book was available in electronic format with no DRM for reasonable prices…Even in this situation, I would probably still grab a book if I stumbled across the file and thought it might interest me – or if I wanted to check it out before buying a paper copy.
They are of course talking about book piracy in the context of file sharing activities, but I think there is yet another species of book piracy that predated file sharing. I’m talking about photocopying an entire physical, corporeal book. In the Philippines, this is not simply a quaint cul de sac. It has become a common practice.
Whether or not this is morally wrong or legally reprehensible is subject of much debate. What I know is that as the world is changing, so must business models change also. The article talks about some these, for instance placing a “donate” button on the site, or creating an atmosphere where people who are downloading can feel assured that whatever amount it is they’re donating to the site would actually go to the authors themselves.
However, I wonder what kind of business models could work to accommodate the photocopying of an entire book.
Read the rest of the article here.
_____
10th Entry
Ralph Vincent Catedral
1 comment:
hindi kasi uso sa pinas ito pero yung mga ebook ng reader talagang big deal sa states. hindi sila as intense sa lighting since they only use black and white para low battery consumption and hindi nakakastrain sa eyes. and so, ebooks talaga target nito. sa states kasi mas mahal ang cost ng books. though im not sure if this is better for authors kasi like newspapers, namamatay na rin yung industry nila. yung mga blockbuster lang na books ang kumikita. they really have to adapt to the changing times.
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