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Friday, August 3, 2012

Books David Pogue Illegally Downloads Book, Pays Publisher for It

Posted by Paul Constant on Fri, Aug 3, 2012 at 4:05 PM

David Pogue wanted to download The Bourne Identity e-book for his 15-year-old son, but he found that no e-bookseller carries it. So he turned to the dark side:

Dudes: It’s 2012. You’re among the last big-name holdouts on the face of the earth. You’re worried about the royalty rate? How about worrying about the thousands of dollars a month you’ve been leaving on the table by not offering the books to the public who’s willing to buy it?

Eventually, I did what I’m sure thousands of frustrated Ludlum fans wind up doing: I downloaded the book from a BitTorrent site.

And then he tried to turn to the light side again.

I know this is wrong. I sure wish I could have paid for it. So I sent the publisher a check for $9.99 for the e-book.

I know a lot of authors who get outraged over the consumer's belief that they can decide what they pay for the piece of art that the author spent months—probably years—creating. They call it entitlement. (It's not like the work is completely unavailable; Pogue could have bought a paperback for less than he spent for a pirated copy.) Many consumers believe that they should be able to access the work in whatever format they choose, and they believe that when they buy the work, they should be able to do whatever they want with it. (They accuse author's estates and publishers of being greedy and out-of-touch.) I know the law says that there's a right and a wrong here, but I also believe the law is hopelessly outdated when it comes to issues like this. I honestly don't know what side I'm on, here.

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I know what side I'm on. Buy the damned paperback.

Posted by M. Wells on August 3, 2012 at 4:23 PM

Same guy who lectured us all a few years ago about how computer books in ebook form were a terrible idea because they would spread all over the Internet for illegal downloads.

In the end, nearly all computer books are available often in DRM-free ebook formats that, yes, are spread all over the Internet, but an early practitioner of this, O'Reilly, found that it didn't seem to hurt sales curves, and may have helped.

Posted by GlennFleishman

on August 3, 2012 at 4:52 PM

But people can decide what to pay. The information that is the content of that book is floating around out there, and people need only to dip their cup into the river of information to scoop it up. Then, they can pay whomever they like whatever they like.

That Pogue sent $9.99 instead of $10 is rather annoying.

Posted by Phil M

on August 3, 2012 at 5:15 PM

I'm with you on not knowing the right answer, and I feel bad that I can't stop thinking "Fuck it, Ludlum's dead. Just steal the damn book."

Posted by evilvolus on August 3, 2012 at 5:48 PM

Because theft is always the right thing to do if someone's dead, evilvolus?

Posted by FranFW on August 3, 2012 at 7:02 PM

@5: I've professionally sold a couple short stories (it paid for a whole tank of gas!), and despite having a full-time job, still hope to publish a novel someday. And let me tell ya, if after kicking the bucket the easiest way for people to get my stories read is to download then for free from other people, I hope they do it!

Posted by NateMan on August 3, 2012 at 7:17 PM

I'm pretty sure that there is pretty good legal support for the idea of "format portability". In other words, it is perfeftly legal to convert a digital file like a song, movie or book to another format, even if the publisher doesn't approve. For example, ripping a DVD, then watching it on your iPhone is perfectly legal, assuming you legally purchased the DVD, don't share the digital version, and don't double up (copy) the movie by keeping the digital copy and selling/giving away the original DVD.

Seems to me that the same principals apply here. He should have bought the paperback, then "copied" it (taking a shortcut by getting the torrent, I guess) then destroyed/set aside the paper copy.

Posted by ohthetrees on August 3, 2012 at 7:34 PM

The idea of authors getting paid at all for writing is comparatively young - Voltaire pulled off a coup by simultaneously publishing Candide in multiple countries to defeat bootleggers. The publishing industry has forgotten that for the majority of post-Gutenberg history they weren't getting paid at all, not the writers, not the editors, not the other useless flacks that now exist.

Posted by Tyler Pierce on August 3, 2012 at 8:11 PM

I just feel in my gut that drastic measures are necessary or Robert Ludlum won't be read at all by 15 year olds.

Steal it. Rip it. Smuggle it in like a microdot embedded in your retina. Whatever it takes to open up the world of this important literature generations to come.

Posted by Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

on August 3, 2012 at 8:58 PM

I have a Rhapsody, an Amazon Prime and a Netflix subscription, which I sometimes use as a justification to listen or view media on YouTube or GrooveShark.

I am also of two minds on this. According to Rhapsody, they pay good money to many artist who do "quite well" on there, but still there are holdouts who leave the total collection with holes. Even with these services I find them all more cumbersome to use than say YouTube which is so fluid and natural.

My idea is that we would subscribe to media by purchasing an Internet Media License...this would give me free reign to download or use anything I find there, and it would be up to various regulators to send the appropriate people their share of the fee. I guess it would be Romnobamacare for movies and albums.

Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe

on August 3, 2012 at 9:03 PM

@5 - To begin with, I clearly said I feel bad about it. But frankly, if I'm not supporting the author anymore, I have a hard time giving a fuck. He's dead, both his wives are dead, and I can pick up a used paperback for $0.50 at Value Village. So, yeah. Go ahead and steal it.

Posted by evilvolus on August 3, 2012 at 10:43 PM

@7 - Would that it were so, but it's not. A number of laws, the DMCA foremost among them, make plenty of things that should be legal, illegal. Case law has clarified the "anti-circumvention" clause of the DMCA somewhat, but I'm hesitant to declare ANYTHING that involves digital media "perfectly legal" at this point.

Posted by evilvolus on August 3, 2012 at 10:48 PM

This doesn't have to be hard.

If there is DEMAND, someone will SUPPLY. Authors who don't accept the premise that once they've made their arrangement of words (maybe images) available to the public, they really aren't going to have any meaningful control over how that arrangement of words is disseminated, much like how they can't control how their arrangement of words will be interpreted. The proliferation of distribution options for books is the logical extension of literary criticism into the commerce of literature, which is to say it's all up for grabs now. This is painful, and frustrating for the kind people that value "book culture," whatever that is/was. Personally, I've always experienced literature as a lugubrious business, breaking bread with the dead, so I'm not inclined to lament these change. What is the utility of resisting e-books? Realistically, what's the end game?

Posted by chaseacross on August 3, 2012 at 11:37 PM

Uhh...wut?

This has little to do with resisting ebooks, and more about a publisher too lazy to do the ebook conversion. Which is still better than the publishers exactly lazy enough to do a shitty ebook version.

Posted by evilvolus on August 3, 2012 at 11:51 PM