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I would rather see my books get pirated than this

janefriedman.com

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Re: I would rather see my books get pirated than this

#71

Post by ghaff »

stevage wrote: post #62
nomat wrote: post #44

I think this is the future of computers for people. they will open their phone and say "hey siri get this book or computer or car" and the browser will show them a bunch of made up products generated by an AI and they'll get the product drop shipped from china and it'll be a shitty counterfeit just like the $5 256GB USB drives. But they won't know because when you look for reviews, the review websites will also be ge…

I imagine everything constantly hovering on the threshold of what is tolerable enough for most people. If you could never buy anything useful on the internet, the system would collapse and people would do something different. But instead, the quality etc will just decline to a point where it is still marginally better than alternatives like shopping in person etc.

People who can afford to do so will perhaps just pay 2x to 3x to shop a more limited selection from personally curated stores.

Re: I would rather see my books get pirated than this

#72

Post by qiqitori »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #52
bawolff wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assuming they dont just have the same name but are intentionally impersonating you - sounds like fraud, false advertising or identity theft [ianal]

The example book just has the same name. It should be defensible; you can write under any name you want. Amazon itself is the entity attributing the book to the more famous Jane Friedman. This is a case where the "impersonator" appears to be legally fine and Amazon is on questionable ground.

You can write under any name you want, depending on your intent. If your intent is to deceive, you probably can't.

Here's an example of a literary forgery (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary_forgery) where the author ended up in prison: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler_Diaries ... But it would probably take some digging to see what particular action he was had for.

Re: I would rather see my books get pirated than this

#73

Post by coliveira »

nomat wrote: post #44

I think this is the future of computers for people. they will open their phone and say "hey siri get this book or computer or car" and the browser will show them a bunch of made up products generated by an AI and they'll get the product drop shipped from china and it'll be a shitty counterfeit just like the $5 256GB USB drives. But they won't know because when you look for reviews, the review websites will also be ge…

This is already happening: whatever you ask Google, they have some crazy AI algorithm running in the back trying to discover what you want to see as result, so as to maximize the profit from your clicks.

Re: I would rather see my books get pirated than this

#74

Post by __mharrison__ »

This is so annoying.

I've written multiple books and seen many types of piracy.

The most annoying is piracy that Amazon could prevent with the work of an intern. They've shown little interest in this.

Authors have little pull because Amazon is the only player for book selling. (I know there are other places to sell books, I've used them. Better to focus on Amazon for passive sales.)

Re: I would rather see my books get pirated than this

#75

Post by bombcar »

coliveira wrote: post #73
nomat wrote: post #44

I think this is the future of computers for people. they will open their phone and say "hey siri get this book or computer or car" and the browser will show them a bunch of made up products generated by an AI and they'll get the product drop shipped from china and it'll be a shitty counterfeit just like the $5 256GB USB drives. But they won't know because when you look for reviews, the review websites will also be ge…

This is already happening: whatever you ask Google, they have some crazy AI algorithm running in the back trying to discover what you want to see as result, so as to maximize the profit from your clicks.

Optimistic of you to assume “what you want to see” and “what makes you click most profitably” coincide.

Re: I would rather see my books get pirated than this

#76

Post by __mharrison__ »

tornato7 wrote: post #29

Just some of the problems authors already faced online (I'm related to one): - Google indexing and republishing all of their work for free on Google Books (finally resolved after a huge Class Action suit where the authors were awarded a few $$) - List your book on Amazon for $20 and a "third party" reseller will immediately hijack your listing with a poorly printed knockoff copy for $19 - Widespread piracy of Kindle…

I know a bunch of authors (who write technical books) who do well. They earn from $10k to $500k per year...

Re: I would rather see my books get pirated than this

#77

Post by slabity »

bombcar wrote: post #75
coliveira wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is already happening: whatever you ask Google, they have some crazy AI algorithm running in the back trying to discover what you want to see as result, so as to maximize the profit from your clicks.

Optimistic of you to assume “what you want to see” and “what makes you click most profitably” coincide.

Considering they haven't completely removed Pinterest from their platform, I absolutely agree.

Re: I would rather see my books get pirated than this

#78

Post by herpdyderp »

maximinus_thrax wrote: post #43
projectileboy wrote: post #26

Haha… Amazon, you say? You mean the large money laundering operation, putting third party counterfeit goods in the same warehouse bins as legitimate goods from legitimate suppliers, so that as a consumer you never know if you’re going to get counterfeit goods? Yes, that’s the Amazon we know and love.

It's amazing how many people aren't aware of this. This should be way more publicized. I was talking to a business partner a while back and mentioned I'm not using Amazon and they were shocked. When I listed all my reasons and this one came up, they didn't believe me and we stopped talking until they looked it up online and were convinced. They were using Amazon to order all supplements and it stopped then and there.

I bought a simple Apple charging cord on Amazon once. I clearly did not get an actual Apple product as it introduced severe buzzing to the computer’s audio output. Even tried several return-replacements. Same issues. No issues direct from the Apple Store.

Re: I would rather see my books get pirated than this

#79

Post by pessimizer »

Legend2440 wrote: post #2

Sounds like an Amazon problem, not an AI problem. Amazon doesn't seem to curate their marketplace at all. It's full of fake products and no-name chinese vendors selling low-quality goods.

It's a toilet. I can't figure out how to trust any listing there. I stopped ordering from there not because I was protesting or anything, I was just sick of annoying Amazon support, who are nice people having a long day. I've had less suffering and better results buying things from random people on Craigslist.

I'm an Amazon nightmare. They see my account going from ordering every other day 25 years ago, often big ticket items, and barrelling into Prime when it happened, to dropping Prime and gradually reduced to ordering every other year. Or maybe I'm a rounding error. But I'd rather go to the store than order from Amazon.

Re: I would rather see my books get pirated than this

#80

Post by 23B1 »

imgabe wrote: post #49
ke88y wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Of course the actual entity posting the fraudulent books are probably overseas somewhere Amazon is an international, but is certainly bound by the laws of the United States of America. At least the ones it can't buy itself out of. "I didn't know" isn't an affirmative defense if your employees are on the record saying they know.

I think Amazon wouldn't say they didn't know, but that it's not their responsibility. For example if Random House published a book that libeled someone, and Amazon sold it, you would sue Random House and the author for libel, not Amazon. Likewise, Amazon would tell you to go sue the publisher, who is probably judgement-proof in some way.

Also don't you have to prove damages in cases like these?
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