About a week ago, Nathan discovered that the ebook format of our book was being pirated. Since then I’ve received a few emails from concerned individuals, notifying me of other offenders.

The thing about ebook piracy is that it is extremely easy to do. In a time where torrents and file download sites are commonplace, you can shut down one spot, and then several more pop up.

Many sites also make reporting copyright violations extremely involved, asking for a long list of things like digital signatures, full mailing address and other stupidity. You can’t just offer proof, like, say, a link to where you can buy the book from the publisher and the fact that the guy that uploaded it is some anonymous loser that can’t prove he has the right to give away the work.

Being a recipient of such behaviour has the two-fold feeling: you wish to call down the wrath of Zeus, but you also feel somewhat perversely flattered.

Most often the folks that download pirated books (and music and software…) are the folks that never pay for things, and they don’t feel a bit sorry. However, there is the possibility that people could innocently do so, unaware of what they’re doing. For those people:

Please support the authors and don’t download the ebook from anywhere except the publisher. The book is not free, but it is certainly not expensive (paperback is $40, ebook is $20). You can even download an entire chapter (by Rob) that actually is free, and it is well worth checking out.

Sunday, June 17th, 2007 · 3:42pm