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Programmer creates 800,000 books algorithmically, starts selling them on Amazon

extremetech.com

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Re: Programmer creates 800,000 books algorithmically, starts selling them on Amazon

#51

Post by lambda »

quux wrote: post #28
mylittlepony wrote: post #20

I think only humans can create IP, though IANAL.

IANAL either but that's an interesting question. I think machines must be able to generate IP though, otherwise the output of something like Pixar's render farms wouldn't be considered copyrightable, only the source models, animations, textures, shaders etc.

The output is considered to be a derivative work of the input, so the same copyright as the input applies. In the case of Pixar, the original models are definitely an original creative work, so the output is as well.

If you are simply using public domain databases as the input, and passing them through an automated process with no creative input, then you probably won't be able to get (or more to the point, enforce) a copyright on it.

Now, whether the databases he's using are copyrighted or not is an interesting question; as well as whether database copyrights even apply. Not all jurisdictions have the notion of database copyrights. Individual facts cannot be copyrighted; but collections of them can, at least in some jurisdictions. However, I don't know if the databases he is using are copyrighted or not.

Re: Programmer creates 800,000 books algorithmically, starts selling them on Amazon

#52

Post by hashmymustache »

What a greedy misappropriation of an otherwise incredible tool.

I assume what pushed him into the market was the software's economic analysis of the latent market for spam books on Amazon 2010-2014

As a medical student, I particularly love books like this[0] with their description: "If your time is valuable, this book is for you. First, you will not waste time searching the Internet while missing a lot of relevant information. Second, the book also saves you time indexing and defining entries. Finally, you will not waste time and money printing hundreds of web pages."

How is this not fraud?

[0]: http://www.amazon.com/Stevens-Johnson-Syndrome-Dictionary-Bi...

Re: Programmer creates 800,000 books algorithmically, starts selling them on Amazon

#53

Post by thetrb »

justhw wrote: post #15

This [1] The 2009-2014 Outlook for Wood Toilet Seats in Greater China seems to be the most reviewed book (35) at 3.3 stars, being sold for $495 USD. [1] http://www.amazon.com/2009-2014-Outlook-Toilet-Seats-Greater...

If it was $4.95 I might have ordered it as a Christmas gift. But $495 is slightly too much...

Re: Programmer creates 800,000 books algorithmically, starts selling them on Amazon

#54

Post by Thrall »

xefer wrote: post #23

How does it determine the price? By the pound? Amazon should clearly mark these as computer generated. I'll bet most of the purchases are from people who didn't know what they were even getting.

Is there evidence that anyone's actually bought one?

Re: Programmer creates 800,000 books algorithmically, starts selling them on Amazon

#55

Post by jonnathanson »

krenoten wrote: post #27

The reviews tend to paint a pretty grim view of the quality of these books, but the sarcastic ones are some of the funniest reviews I've ever read. Here's an honest one that shines a light on the quality: "The description for this book is TOTALLY misleading. It is NOT a book of quotations and phrases. It is a reference book of where to look to find possible quotations- like the old filecard cabinets in the library. O…

The funniest part of "Scrotum" is that it's priced at $28.95. For an 84-page paperback, whose sole purpose is to trace the usage of the word "scrotum" throughout an oddly specific period in English linguistic history (1678 - 2007). I mean, perhaps the content farmer should also write a pricing algorithm?

The review is, indeed, ball-bustingly hilarious.

Re: Programmer creates 800,000 books algorithmically, starts selling them on Amazon

#56

Post by potatolicious »

msutherl wrote: post #43
rwg wrote: post #7

Just what Amazon needs: 800,000 computer-generated books crapping up the listings along with the thousands of on-demand printed copies of Wikipedia articles. Wonderful.

I can't believe this guy has no sense of humor[1]! He's completely serious about providing a service and making tons of money from it. In one question the interviewer asks: 'could you make a novel for instance?' to which he replies 'well, novels don't usually make money'. Wouldn't you think the correct answer would be 'well, it wouldn't be very good'? Hauntology at its best[2]. [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8Wu…

> "to which he replies 'well, novels don't usually make money'. Wouldn't you think the correct answer would be 'well, it wouldn't be very good'?"

Perhaps the same question can be posed to many startup founders in our community. Very often people in the startup scene seem much more interested in extracting profit (or really, just making the exit) rather than creating something good (in whatever way that you might personally define goodness).

Re: Programmer creates 800,000 books algorithmically, starts selling them on Amazon

#58

Post by duey »

I work in ecommerce and this guy and others like him have been creating this stuff for 3-4 years. It's a massive annoyance for us as the only real identifier we got from suppliers is the publisher name, we blocked them for awhile but then we started seeing a massive range of publisher names coming through in order to get around blocks (I assume every other retailer was blocking them as well).

When we first started seeing the automated content books, literally overnight our product set increased several million titles - I now estimate that about 20 million of the 50 million products we have are automated books (they come out with new "editions" all the time as well). This obviously has a massive impact on our search results - these books have keyword laden titles and descriptions, and without a solid identifier it was very difficult to get rid of them. Thankfully recently the suppliers that print these products have started flagging them as crapware.

As for the customer response to this type of product - it's definitely negative, with a massive return rate. As far as I am concerned, this is a massive scam - hedging on the fact that some people are to lazy to return the books.

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