We have talked about e-readers and how they affect people’s interest in reading. This week we look at another aspect of the e-book popularity – piracy. Go to the link below and read the article. Write a reflective comment that shows you have read the article, expresses your views, and addresses my questions. Note that I expect more from you than just answering my questions to get full credit.
Compare the controversy about music piracy with this new phenomenon. How are they similar and how are they different? Are the sites where the books are posted responsible for monitoring their sites for unauthorized content? The article states that “Publishers and authors say they can learn from their peers in music, who alienated fans by using the courts aggressively to go after college students and Napster before it converted to a legitimate online store.” What do you think they can learn and what should they do? Several authors expressed their opinions in the article. Which author’s opinion do you agree with?
Pirates on the Web Article
16 comments:
The two types of piracy (musical and book piracy) are very similar in that the reproductions of either are given permission by the author to create and hand out for free. They are different because while copies of music are very easy to post on a site, unless a serious hacker got access to the publisher's or author's computer, it would take a very long time to type up an entire novel (after buying a copy of the book) to just give away to people. But, it is easier to find a copy of a book online because entering a phrase in the book will show any copy of it, while with an illegal copy of a song, it's nearly impossible to locate because instead of a phrase, it's a specific series of pitches on the computer. Yes, I think that the sites where these copies of books come up are responsible for it. They should be aware of what is going up on their sites, although the people who have membership to these sites are also to blame because it becomes a moral problem when the people post contents that are illegal. They can learn that offering their works at low prices will deter the behavior of obtaining copies illegally, but as I said in a previous post about music piracy, when given the chance to get something for free or having to pay for it, people will go with getting it for free. They should just offer these at lower prices to try and fix the issue, but the chances of it actually working is very small. I agree with this comment by Stephen King, " The question is, how much time and energy do I want to spend chasing these guys, and to what end? My sense is that most of them live in basements floored with carpeting remnants, living on Funions and discount beer.” The people who do this probably have little or no money to take time to find all of this stuff, and once you're as well off as many of these authors, who cares? But this doesn’t make right what all the people reading these illegal copies are doing.
The controversy between music piracy and the new phenomenon is similar in one way: they both use copy righted things without permission to use them for free. They both give people things for free, which are meant to be sold for a specific price. They're different though because books are much more expensive, and the copy right on them is a much stronger one. Music companies wouldn't lose as much money as book companies would. Also, music's really easy to find online, and it's easy to download. Books, however, are harder to find online. In my opinion, I think that the sites that are putting up these books are responsible for monitoring their unauthorized content. They shouldn't allow people to post such things, and they should keep a closer eye on what's being put up. They can learn from these people to capture who's doing this, and sue. Also, they can prevent sites that are doing this often, and prevent them from becoming legitimate just like the music piracy problem did. They should make sure that they allege the sites that are putting books online, and having legal action put against them. I would have to agree with Russell Davis, "You knock one down and five more spring up.” It's really hard to stop, because it's time consuming to just stop one of them; and by the time you've stopped one, others have gotten the idea and it's more spread out and they want to do it.
Omar Abdel-Rahim
The two types of piracy (both in the musical and book industries) are quite similar. They are alike in that both are illegal, and both are being done without the consent of the author or artist. Both ways these authors and artists lose money, and that's how they are similar. How they are different is simple. While songs are rather cheap, bestselling novels can really cost the author a large sum of money. Also, as Cat said, books take far more effort to create and copy, then just give away to people for no money back. It seems a little ironic, that people, who scam authors and artists out of money, are cheated out of money themselves. Books are easier to mass-produce online however, as once you have all the text, you have to just use "Copy Paste" and make as many copies as you want. Uploading a pirated book takes much more time and effort than a song. That's how they're different. Yes the sites are responsible for when illegally copyrighted books pop up on the website. It's their website, they created it, and so it's their duty to the people to make sure that nothing illegal is placed there. It's their job to monitor what happens on their site as it's THEIR site after all, and they have control over it. As Cat aid, the people who post these illegal things also should feel responsible, as they are doing something that they know is wrong. But it's the site's job to maintain that nothing illegal is kept there. They can learn from the music industry what to do in this situation, and how to handle it, without bad publicity sprouting up, like with Napster. They can learn that there is no real way to solve the problem for good, but they can lure some people away from the idea of piracy by offering low prices on their books and special deals. If all else fails, then they can learn from the music industry how to track down these people, and punish them to prevent this piracy problem from popping up again. They should offer their works at lower prices to attract people. They should also know how to prevent this piracy problem from happening again. I agree with Russell Davis' quote from the article when he said “It’s a game of Whac-a-Mole, you knock one down and five more spring up.” This is very true, as piracy is a constantly growing problem, as it has now troubled two major industries, the music and book. It is a constant problem, and, despite efforts to stop it, it grows very quickly and in great number. That's why I agree with that quote.
sights is meant to be site, but when I do spell correct- it puts that instead. really it's not my fault, and the are instead of is, also, from the green squiggly line, it wouldn't let me use it without it being grammatically incorrect. (on word)
I think that eventually digital piracy of books will become as big as digital piracy of music, the reason being because even if less books were posted on the internet vs. many songs, the amount of work that goes into one book is far more than a song, books in a series maybe come out every 5 months, Harry Potter took years! Songs they come out about once a week and then you get an album full of songs every now and then. I really oppose the idea that books are being put up on the internet in free versions. I think that just like music, it's illegal, and ought not be done, but I do believe what the last author mentioned in the article said. "He believes free versions, even unauthorized ones, entice new readers."
Music piracy is the same in that it is illegal but it is far easier to get online and pirate because most music are now sold in digital form on Cd's but Books, are still sold in hard copies (most of them). The books may take several hours to get online, and scan every page, I wouldn't want to do that and I don't think that a hacker would either. Sites that publish content should monitor everything that goes up, maybe even have digital copies on their records so that everything posted can be checked against the records for piracy. Like turnitin.com. If not, the sights should be shut down until a method of screening is devised. One way to prevent digital piracy is not to go digital, but eventually that won't work and, a lot of people are happy with legal digital books. all of music might not be on the internet if it stayed on records? no one would have internet though, but that's not the point. Another thing that could be learned is to provide more options that are cheaper, for readers, online and on e-readers.I especially like the comment about how if you wander into my pocket, you'll pull out six inches of stump. this should be the case for pirates because it is true that if they wander to steal, like a shoplifter, they should not only pay the price of the good, but penance also.
The similarity between the music piracy and its new phenomenon is that they are illegal and they are free. The difference between the music piracy and the phenomenon is that the people are making copies of the CD and they are putting it on Lime Wire, also in other such P2P sharing files. For eBooks you cannot copy the file and it has to be rewritten on a program and post it onto a website. Yes, the sites where the books are posted are responsible for monitoring their sites for unauthorized content. I think that they should learn that they enforce the copyright rule and enforce large punishment to the people who doesn’t follow the rules. I would have to agree on Richard Sarnoff’s quote, because he is correct when he is saying, “…because people would have been in the habit of legitimately purchasing at pricing that wasn’t considered pernicious”.
There is a lot of piracy going on these days. For instance there are pirated games and videos and music. But this is the first time I ever hear about pirated books. The similarities of the books and music are that it is (sometimes) free if not extremely cheaper than the original. It is different because not many people have the time to type up an entire book so people can get for free while music you can just copy the CD and post it on a website. Many sites have unauthorized content; this could range from inappropriate content to the site or explicit content. I think they should monitor their sites because they don’t want to be driving away the business by having the site automatically blocked because of the content posed. For example in our school if an ad comes up and we were on Wikipedia and a pop up comes up and it’s of a nude lady or some sort of alcohol beverage the site is automatically blocked which leads to people not trusting the site. I don’t honestly know what they should learn because this quote makes no sense but with logic I think they can learn to copy right their books like ITunes does, so that people buy their books online fairly. They should also learn about the court sessions if they copyright and caught people in the act, the court ruling should be very strict and harsh. I agree with Mr. Doctorow because I agree with his quote which is “I really feel like my problem isn’t piracy,” Mr. Doctorow said. “It’s obscurity.” He shows that people are unclear with the copy right law, which is why they do it. They are unclear of the consequences that will reprehend them later on if they get caught. Copyright piracy is all over the internet and many people get pirated movies and music the truth is it is not going to stop soon but the fight to stop piracy is still being waged.
Even though we do not view the entertainment world as being similar to the literary world, the controversy about music piracy compares with this new phenomenon by the fact that both piracies involve taking copyrighted material and posting it up for free online for others to view without compensating the authors of the works that were used. Furthermore, both piracies are ultimately taking money out of an author’s pocket by allowing the public to view the works of certain authors for free, which they should be paying for. However, these two forms of piracy are different, as music can easily be located online and downloaded without a person having a lot of trouble, but books are harder to find online and a person participating in literary piracy would usually have to type up the entire content themselves, which would take a lot of time than simply stealing or sharing a copy of a music file. Furthermore, the music industry would not lose much from this type of piracy because many music fans would rather get a clean and perfected copy, instead of some cheap one. On the other hand, the literary world would greatly be harmed money-wise because books are worth more than music in most cases and when it comes to books, many people would rather view it for free online than have to pay for it to get their hands on it. Personally, I believe the sites where the books are posted are responsible for monitoring their sites for unauthorized content because they should be paying attention to what is posted on their sites with them being the owners and they should make sure that everything being posted is legitimate. As for the quote, I believe publishers and authors can learn how to successfully deal with the problem of literary piracy by going after the people that practice this type of piracy and hitting them where it hurts the most, their pocket, causing people that are thinking of participating in this type of piracy to think twice. Also, they can go after sites that are committing this type of piracy and sue them and make sure that other sites do not do this. Lastly, I agree with author Stephen King’s comment, “The question is, how much time and energy do I want to spend chasing these guys. And to what end? My sense is that most of them live in basements floored with carpeting remnants, living on Funions and discount beer.” In truth, going after people that commit this type of piracy is hard, as well as time-consuming and it usually results in nothing, but wasted time and energy. People who participate in this type of piracy are extremely pathetic and while what they are doing is wrong, it is futile to go after them, especially when realizing that there are many other people who do this and that they cannot all be caught.
OMAR ALSADI
The difference between he two is that one is illegal and free, and the other is legal and free (phenomenon). People have been buying CD’s and downloading them to Lime Wire for people to illegally download. They are the same because they both can be downloaded. I don’t think so. I think they can learn how people think about music and downloading it. I would have to agree on Richard Sarnoff’s quote.
They are really similar. They are very responsible for monitoring their sites. They should have copyrights and if the people don't follow it they should pay a fee or go to court.
The similarity between music and its new phenomenon is that they both are free but one’s illegal and the other one legal. However the other difference is that the CD can be simply copied but a book, well not many people have time to type it all up. The sites should be responsible for the content of the books. I think that they should learn that in some way they are forcing people to download. The quote I would most agree with is Richard Sarnoff’s.
The controversy between, music piracy and the new phenomenon are very similar. First they are both illegal, and both are done without an author or a writer. They are different because books are more expensive and the copyright is difficult to hack.
Unlike books music is easier to find online. I think that they should monitor the sites, so their sites can be safe and so that they don’t lose their business. I agree with the Russell Davis quote.
The similarity between controversy and its new phenomenon is that they both are free but one’s illegal and the other one legal. Yes, the sites where the books are posted responsible for monitoring their sites for unauthorized content. The article states that “Publishers and authors say they can learn from their peers in music, who alienated fans by using the courts aggressively to go after college students and Napster before it converted to a legitimate online store.” I they can learn and they should learn how people think about music and downloading it. I agree with Russell Davis quote.
The similarity between the music piracy and the new phenomenon is that they are both illegal and free. They are also different because people are copying CD’s and putting it on Bearshare, Limewire, and etc. If using eBooks you can not copy the file because it’s copyrighted. The sites where the books are posted are responsible for monitoring their sites for unauthorized content they should go further with it and strengthen the rules and the consequences for anyone that doesn’t follow the rules should be fatal. I think what they should learn is to strengthen copyright like Itunes does. They should learn how to act in court because when they catch someone they could punish him/her. I agree with Richard Sarnoff’s quote,
The two types of piracy are very similar because they both illegally give out pirated things that are supposed to be making money for a company. A difference is that in the music piracy phenomenon songs can easily be put up on programs like Lime Wire. For eBooks someone has to sit down and rewrite everything allover again which may make it seem harder. Yes, the sites where the books are posted are 100% responsible because they encourage people to pirate books. I think they should reinforce the rules and have severe punishments for those who don’t. I think that this comment by Stephen King is funny but true, " The question is, how much time and energy do I want to spend chasing these guys, and to what end? My sense is that most of them live in basements floored with carpeting remnants, living on Funions and discount beer.”
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