Friday, July 30, 2010

temporary post - this post has been kept

I had some comments that made me smile and brought tears to my eyes. Those comments not only show support against piracy, for this blog and for those fighting, but also how much piracy is affecting authors.

18 comments:

  1. Feel free to post my comment. As an author whose first book is coming out soon I am concerned about this sort of activity. Pirates are stealing. There are consequenses for stealing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. There are pirates who think that what you are doing here (naming names) is absolutely outrageous.

    They say it's a worse crime to name a pirate and share identifying information about them, especially if they haven't been brought to trial.

    If that is the case, are sites like Spokeo and Zabasearch illegal? Those sites publish far more info than you do including street addresses, and sell credit, criminal, and financial histories, home values, estimated income, and more.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What I find most amusing is that my info comes from places like Goggle and Yahoo to name a few, but I do NOT pay anything for the information. Of course, there is the fact that the dumb pirates also post much of their own information and don’t even realize it. There’s nothing a pirate can do to hide said information because it’s what happens when you visit a site, fill out login and password information and provide files from a computer.

    I do have a list of exact street addresses, phone numbers—home and cell—and even parental names given to me freely by publically accessible look-up sites. I have easy access to credit, criminal and financial histories as well as home values, estimated income and more, but I keep that information private and such is sent only to the proper authorities.

    Honestly, it’s pure logic and simple common sense that one doesn’t have to go to trial when a blatant crime is openly committed in public.

    Contracts signed by authors clearly state that an author is the copyright owner—not to mention this is also stated by the federal government in the copyright law facts—but said contracts also state that only the publisher signing the contract has permission from the author to distribute the contracted work. Thereby, anyone not directly authorized by the author and/or publisher is not legally authorized to distribute the book in question. Therefore, any link not directly authorized by the author and/or publisher is illegal and a criminal act punishable by fine and/or imprisonment.

    Authors literally go through hell while jumping through hoops to remove illegal links. Perhaps the poor, pathetic, whinny pirates should try such acrobatics to salvage their information or shut up.

    To hear the pirates complain about anything, especially how no one appreciates their upload work efforts, is pathetic and a sign of a weak willed human with nothing better to do than sit in a corner and whimper.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You make a lot of interesting points, YDWCI.

    Here's a really entertaining irony. Authors of e-books have a sort of "no compete" clause in their contracts.

    That's right. Even the author and copyright owner is not permitted to "share" more than a certain number (maybe as few as 5!!!) of her own ebooks.

    Once she has shared her agreed number of ebooks for promo purposes, she is supposed to actually purchase her own ebooks from her publisher or from an authorized vendor if she wants to give an ebook as a prize.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous question on behalf of a few writers:

    You seem to be able to figure out IP addresses and we're not sure how. Can you get *anything* on this person? http://www.underground.mn/member.php?u=441052

    She's become one of the most prolific uploaders on Underground (a forum notorious for not respecting author's rights) and she repeatedly uploads files to dozens of places. Every time the files are taken down, she reuploads immediately--I know writers who have had to send out dozens of DMCA notices A DAY. If you could find anything on her, that would help out a lot of people.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'll see what I can dredge up from the depths of the Underground.

    ReplyDelete
  7. So, YDWCI, when are you planning on extorting noodz or teh secks from all these FEMALE pirates you love exposing? Why only female pirates on your list, perv? I think I'll be reporting you as a potential stalker there, buddy.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Read this and comment on that.

    http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2010/05/piracy-again.html

    ReplyDelete
  9. Name slinging? Your entire statement makes you sound like you’re either an agitated pirate or the spouse of a revealed pirate looking for a reason to shut down this blog because it reveals pirates. Maybe your info is among the revealed.

    First, I have no interest in extorting anything from anyone as extortion is against the law. I simply reveal the information Google, Yahoo and a few other public information sources offer when given the ISP addy. Anyone can do it if you know how. It’s not hard with the right info and the right source.

    Second, you made this a gender issue, I’ve always made it a profession issue since thievery is a profession and not a gender. I thought the gender specific stuff went out with the 80s because of equal rights. It’s been a long time since gender has had anything to do with profession. Bringing gender into this is sexist on your part. Making the assumption that I am only revealing female pirates is no different than saying all doctors are men and all lawyers are women or all house spouses are female and all construction workers are male. Get real, that smack that went out with the 80s.

    Do you honestly think I pick and choose whom to reveal? Please, I don’t decide on the gender, I merely take the ISP addy, enter it into the database and, with the click of a mouse, the ISP addy owner’s info appears on my screen. It’s not my fault the computer attached to that ISP location is accessed by any specific gender. The person at that computer did whatever they did that revealed whatever they revealed to grant me—and anyone who knows how—access to the information via free public resources.

    I know men and women named Michael Can you tell if Shawn is a man or a woman? I can’t without seeing or hearing. Declaring I reveal only females is inaccurate. Do you think it’s possible that male pirates are rare? Who knows. Could be. Or perhaps these particular pirates I manage to reveal are bored housewives—domestic engineers according to the US Government since the 90s—with nothing better to do with themselves. Maybe those revealed pirates are more easily caught because of their frequent activity.

    Honestly, I don’t pick and choose whom I reveal, I reveal all I find. I have always made this a profession issue, you made it a gender issue.

    Oh and as for the loose use of buddy? I am not your buddy and it sounds like you’re assuming I’m of the male gender. Guess again. If you really want to get precise, I’m a heterosexual female housewife and since most of the revealed pirates are female, I am obviously outing pirates who just happen to be of my gender. Now how does that make me a potential stalker?

    I doubt it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. It's October, now. Did the pirates win? Surely you have something to say about COICA.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous said...

    Read this and comment on that.

    http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2010/05/piracy-again.html
    September 12, 2010 9:33 PM


    I read it and was unimpressed.
    Personally, I feel it’s a joke, a lash at the publishing industry.
    On his blog, he touts web sites to back up his points, but a published author produces web sites that counter each of his points. In my book, that makes him 0 for 0 so he has proved nothing.
    As for his so-called sales, anyone can make claims, but producing undeniable and verifiable proof is the only way to prove a point. Since such is the case 100% of the time for factual evidence, he has not provided any factual evidence to his staked claim that ‘pirating doesn’t hurt’ therefore I believe nothing of his words.
    I scanned his sites and it seems most of what he gives away is self-pubbed—I may be wrong, but it’s what I seemed to find as well as many donations that without donating, no book. Donations can be written off taxes, royalties cannot.
    I should hope many e-pubs dislike the damage he’s doing to the industry as a whole as most most e-pubs don’t like self-publishing because once the book has been out there, it will not generate the funds it can if never before seen.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous said... It's October, now. Did the pirates win? Surely you have something to say about COICA.

    Yes I do and no, the pirates didn’t win…life ransacked me and for those who are hopeful, no, it had nothing to do with this site. Keep wishing. LOL

    Okay, the COICA.

    The friend of an acquaintance said it best and, with full permission, I quote:

    --begin quote--
    For some odd reason, some people are under the impression this is a bad thing...think again.

    The bill specifically targets INTERNET SITES DEDICATED TO INFRINGING ACTIVITIES. Those would be sites like Astatalk, Demonoid, Underground and individuals who make links to their personal storage sites publically available.

    In no way does this target free speech or LEGAL sharing.

    http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:S.3804:

    Vote here:
    Top right, look for the red and green, then look down for the words Take Action, below that is Vote on this Bill and then you have the green thumbs up and red thumbs down.
    http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_SN_3804.html

    --end quote--

    Yeah, I voted and I voted YES and am in no fear of my freedom of speech or any other freedom the US Constitution grants me because I don't break the law, I don't pirate and I don't steal.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thank you for doing this. As a writer I think what is outrageous is people thinking they have a right to distribute my work to others for free. It's my work and I have a right to be paid fairly for it.

    Also, I am an avid reader and I would never download an illegal copy of an author's book. Since I want that author to keep writing, I'm more than happy to buy their work to keep them writing.

    If I could make one suggestion: Please start a Facebook page and link this blog there. I would gladly help promote you to everyone I know.
    :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. I just found your site via a link posted on my RWA chapter list. Kudos to you for the work you are doing to expose pirates. I'm a freelance editor, and in that capacity I do work for several published authors (a sort of virtual administrative assistant). Two of my clients have asked me to send take-down notices to any sites where their works are offered by pirates. You would not believe the headache it's been. Or perhaps you would. *g*

    Just about every time I was successful in getting an offender's pirated books removed, she would change her identity and get right back into business, or simply move to another sharing site. I chased one pirate all over the Internet. It was exhausting and discouraging. In the end, the client threw in the towel, due to the inordinate amount of time I was spending on this project. (The client is a bestselling author whose books are very popular) This author is losing tons of money in royalties to pirates, and it also affects her sales stats. For every pirated book sold, that is one less book accounted for on her sales record. And that, of course, affects the bottom line. Stealing is stealing, plain and simple. So keep up the good work.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Paul Whitacker what are you doing?
    I count no less than three illegal activities on a site you are accountable for.

    1-If you are not the author of the book you are giving away and/or do not have the author’s legally written permission to present in court, you are committing copyright infringement and such is punishable in a court of law.
    2-If you are not the author of the book you are giving away and/or do not have legally written permission to present in court from the author/publisher to give away said books, you have illegally seized distribution rights and such is punishable in a court of law.
    3-If you do not have permission to show the covers and/or do not have the right to the cover you are displaying, you are committing copyright infringement and such is punishable in a court of law to the fine of $100,000.00 per incident.

    Finding a book free on the internet does not mean it was intended to be free. Unless the free book was discovered on the author or publisher’s site, it was most likely pirated/stolen in the first place.
    Free books are not necessarily in the public domain—check the law.
    Filesonic is a storage locker, another source predominately used by pirates for illegal file sharing of files the pirate does not own.

    ReplyDelete
  16. First of all, I want to thank you for championing such a worthy cause. The thousands of children who died today of hunger, thirst and disease would not have perished if it wasn't for dirty pirates stealing their poorly written erotica(I noticed that's what most of the pirates you publicly exposed were sharing) off the internet... Anyway,I know this has probably been said before but what people will take for free is not necessarily what they would pay for. So while these people Also, people generally are only as good as they have to be, to keep up appearances. With the advent of the internet people no longer feel the need to wear a mask of morality. I feel all that your efforts are doing is to make certain pirates be more circumspect in their endeavors to infringe copyrights. I doubt there will be very much legal backlash simply because of the sheer number and the jurisdictional limitations. And pirates are only becoming more sophisticated. I am fairly surprised that your blog hasn't been vandalised or your imformation hacked and posted.Out of purely empirical curiosity, I'd like to see where this blog goes.

    ReplyDelete
  17. First of all, to some it is a worthy cause. Many authors have favorite charities—some to animals, some to children—that they religiously donate to. What bites so bad is when their donations can’t happen because their work is pirated and their sales affected.

    Poorly written, huh? Have you looked at some of NY’s errors? I’ve seen many eBooks that are far better written than NY’s books.

    While romance in general is the top selling genre, erotica is right on those coattails, the sales for 2010 practically doubled from 2009. eBook sales are doing well enough that NY is doing what it can to get in on the action. Harlequin even introduced their own ePublishing company—Carina Press—and their own vanity press—DellArt.

    I don’t pick what exposed pirates are pirating, I just reveal what is discovered.

    While I agree what’s pirated may not necessarily equal lost sales, it doesn’t make pirating any less of a criminal activity.

    Yes, appearances can be deceiving.

    Morality is the choice of each individual, but it amazes that those same people who pirate freak when their child faces a judge for stealing. Think about what pirating shows your kid. Kids today are far more technologically advanced than the majority of adults because he times require such knowledge to be acquired early. While most high school students of today may not be aware of what plagiarism is, most elementary students know how to access the internet and what piracy is. Honestly, a kid witnessing a parent illegally downloading a file leads to the logical conclusion of if the parent can take something that is not theirs to take, why can’t the kid take that video game from the store?

    There is no determining what my efforts are doing at this point, but time will tell.

    As for the legal backlash, ask the woman who was busted and faces a pretty penny in charges. Sheer number and jurisdictional limitations did not have any effect on her and there are other cases, to include a few pirating sites that have already been shut down. Did you know there is a certain non-eBook publisher going after a particular site for making a certain book available?

    As pirates become more sophisticated, so will counter sources.

    I’ve been waiting for the vandalism or hacked information to be posted, but nothing so far. Care to try?

    ReplyDelete
  18. Yojimbo is mistaken... unless he thinks that Clive Cussler and John Grisham and Stephen King and Dan Brown and David Baldacci and Nora Roberts write "poorly written erotica".

    These sites share everything, and they describe the works as "freely available" and "complimentary" and suitable as gifts to give to friends and family. They suggest to people that they can make money by sharing links to these books.

    As a result, people sincerely believe that by some miracle, these best selling works are in the public domain (which they are NOT!!) and that anyone has the right to burn them onto CDs and sell them as collections of 30,000 or 9,000 or 7,000 e-books on internet auction sites.

    EBay even has a guide (viewed by thousands) suggesting various quasi pirate sites as good sources for finding free e-books to sell.

    ReplyDelete