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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

#201

Post by luma »

scubbo wrote: post #131
maximinus_thrax wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Anecdotally, among my social group, almost everyone has heard of it, and no-one has ever experienced it.

... that they are aware of.

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

#202

Post by tornato7 »

magicalist wrote: post #161
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…

> Google indexing and republishing all of their work for free on Google Books This isn't a thing that was ever offered, it was always full text search, get snippets of results. > (finally resolved after a huge Class Action suit where the authors were awarded a few $$) The two proposed class action settlements were rejected as overly advantageous to Google (probably for the best they were rejected, though it would hav…

Google Books had 'previews' of books that included large swaths of the content. They claimed to only publish this with the author's permission but as I understand it the way that permission was granted was quite sneaky and authors didn't always know what they were agreeing to.

It does not matter whether the lawsuit was dismissed or not, Google practices harmed authors and that's why the Authors Guild sued them.

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

#203

Post by tornato7 »

WalterBright wrote: post #56
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…

> finally resolved after a huge Class Action suit where the authors were awarded a few $$ One wonders if that few $$ was worth the bother for the authors. Especially when set against the free marketing that such exposure would get for them. There are other reasons for writing books than making money selling them, such as enhancing your professional reputation, which can segue into a better paying job, more contract o…

If Google had an opt-in way for authors to get their book indexed that would be fantastic. But the settlement required authors to opt out, and Google made that difficult to do.

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

#204

Post by LexiMax »

scrum-treats wrote: post #174
post-it wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would anyone know to look for an NFT on the fake? The target of the scammers is someone browsing Amazon, who isn't going to know to look for an NFT. Someone familiar with the author is just going to check the author's website and see the list of books they've published.

The NFT/NFC is locked so the tag is immutable, and only the seller and Amazon have the public key. Barring some hack on the NFT/NFC tagging software (which could happen in theory), you'd need both the private and public key to create a counterfeit object, along with a MFA token of some sort (e.g., biometric data, another OTP like Yubikey). And this would be true for every physical and/or digital print.

If I'm following your idea correctly, a prerequisite would be that we as a society would need to make it impossible to publish a book, digital or physical, without an attached NFT.

It's also worth mentioning that the OP of this comment thread promised a solution that any author could implement without Amazon's involvement, presumably because Amazon is disinterested or disincentivized to care.

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

#205

Post by zen_1 »

NoZebra120vClip wrote: post #190
zen_1 wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

cough mobilism.org/libgen.is/irc channels/z-library cough

Do the ends justify the means, matey? Have you considered accessing freely-licensed content instead, and supporting authors who believe in the freedom movement, such as Creative Commons? How would you feel, if you were an author, and people openly advocated piracy, such that you were deprived of sales, and earning an honest living?

I am morally opposed to most IP laws and believe they are categorically illegitimate.

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

#206

Post by Izkata »

RajT88 wrote: post #157
andrei_says_ wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We swim in garbage already (looking at amazon) but bhphoto and sweetwater still exist.

Newegg as well.

Newegg is now an amazon-style marketplace, with stuff they sell mixed in to the rest same as how AmazonBasics is mixed in to the rest.

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

#207

Post by giantg2 »

UtopiaPunk wrote: post #121
giantg2 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of niche, premium, or physical stores out there. People might need to pay a little more for it, but they do exist. Not everyone buys everything from the same super stores.

What are some of your favorites (tech or otherwise)?

Small local businesses, like homebrew shops. Seed companies like Rare Seeds, Gurney, etc. Mushroom places like The Cultured Mushroom, Liquid Fungi.

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

#208

Post by projectileboy »

scubbo wrote: post #131
maximinus_thrax wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Anecdotally, among my social group, almost everyone has heard of it, and no-one has ever experienced it.

Your mileage may definitely vary. In 20+ years, I’ve had four incidents of receiving obviously counterfeit goods; no idea if it has happened more often than that and I was just unaware.

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

#209

Post by cyberax »

muzani wrote: post #195
dghlsakjg wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon is not innocent here. They are incredibly predatory as a middleman

I buy a $10 book on Google Books, $3 goes to Google, $7 goes to the publisher. I buy the same on the Kindle Android app, $3 goes to Google, ?? goes to Amazon, Since Amazon had been selling books on the Kindle app for a while, I assume they made more than 30% to be worth it, or pushed the cost to the publishers? Or probably worked out some deal with Google, which seems a bit unlikely.

For a long while everybody ignored the Google's cut from the purchases. Google only started enforcing it a couple of years ago.

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

#210

Post by NoZebra120vClip »

zen_1 wrote: post #205
NoZebra120vClip wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do the ends justify the means, matey? Have you considered accessing freely-licensed content instead, and supporting authors who believe in the freedom movement, such as Creative Commons? How would you feel, if you were an author, and people openly advocated piracy, such that you were deprived of sales, and earning an honest living?

I am morally opposed to most IP laws and believe they are categorically illegitimate.

By your own authority, then. Are you a judge, or governor, or a bishop or something?
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