The topic of ebook piracy is not a new one. It has existed even before ebooks started becoming the hot commodity that they seem to have turned into courtesy of online stores like Amazon. The popular romance oriented reader blogs Dear Author, Mrs. Giggles blog & Karen Knows Best have now posted about the subject. I think Dear Author brought the topic up first on this round, but I may be wrong. Usually the topic comes back to the surface when an author goes ranty about it. On many occasions the ranty author is newly published, so he/she is actually facing the issue first hand for the first time. Sadly, the truth of the matter is that this particular has no real solution at least as of yet, and it is entirely out of the control of the author, unless he/she decides to spend a lot of time policing the internet sending cease-and-desist notices and requests for links to illegal downloads of his/her work to be brought down, etc.
Not that long ago, it used to bother me when authors went on rants on the topic of how their books were being "pirated" (stolen), and uploaded on torrents and online sites for "free" downloading by others. I felt that, as a reader, I was pretty much being lumped up with those people sharing with others what wasn't theirs to share. After all, why would the author rant about the subject on her own blog or website, or in reader oriented blogs/forums. I don't feel that way any longer. I pretty much think of it as an author venting about something he/she has no control over, that involves something that rightfully, belongs to him/her. Know what I mean?
Right now, with a number of variables that are affecting the whole environment, from bad economy, to shut down of libraries, then million different types of DRMs, the lack of foresight on the part of the big publishers, etc. it does seem like ebooks are ripe for the (free) pickings, which is another reason why I can't say I blame authors for venting, though I do have to admit that I view this as a "grey" area.
Mireya
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