Thank you Niall!

back orf, ye curs!

Many thanks to Speculative Scotsman for his brilliantly considered response to my please don’t pirate my books post.

He does things with figures and explains techno stuff in a way that I would never have been able to do. I’m so grateful to him for that. Read his post, he makes more sense and has the figures to back him up.

BTW, I wasn’t able to address this in my previous post because of the hackers-not-letting-me-edit-once-posted thing. But the wonderful Aishwarya of kaleidoglide (possibly one of my favourite blogs) gently took me to task for suggesting folks who can’t afford to buy books should perhaps use the library. She points out that many folks live in countries who have no proper library system at all. I fully appreciate that point, and take it to heart. I’d be interested in reading an article or post from someone with experience on the ground in such a case, and hear thier attitude to piracy and how it might be over come. However, I suspect that the majority of the folks offering the types of arguments to be found HERE have no such troubles… and it this kind of argument I hear the most when folks defend illegal downloading.

Added 10th NOV:

Thanks to Adam Whitehead over at Wertzone for blogging his thoughts on this HERE

Interesting piece on the ramifications of e-book copyright by Rose Fox at Genreville HERE

Thanks to Alan for pointing to this rather more, ahem, vocal article on music piracy over at Latest Disgrace HERE ( it was written in response to a report that only 52% of Americans polled think that music is worth paying for. There is harsh harsh language throughout)

Added 12th NOV

Thanks to Mieneke for sharing this interesting article about book sharing HERE

Added 15th NOV

Thanks to The Ranting Dragon for their support HERE

Slightly related is Rose Fox’s terrific post on ethics in publishing (BTW writers, you can educate yourself in a small way about the pitfalls and sharks by visiting the bewares and background check threads in AW. Take your time there, look around, learn from others.)

Added 13th January 2011:

A similar plea from Saundra Mitchell

And Lillith Saintcrow

And Kimberly Pauley

January 20th:

A terrific post by Charles Tan, very detailed and covering all sides.

And Aishwarya shares more related links HERE

Oct 2011  My post on Susan Connolly’s piracy essay over at The Center for Digital Ethics & Policy at Loyola University Chicago. Susan’s essay itself. Rose Fox’s related genreville post.

April 2013: There’s a new Authors Vrs Pirates webpage for anyone wishing to share or seek information about book piracy and how to combat it. Authors Vrs Pirates

May 7th 2013  Zoe Marriot weights in on the piracy conversation.