Book Pirate Reveals Just How Easy It Is To Steal Ebooks Online
Aside from music, movies, and television shows, a population of book pirates is illegally sharing ebook files across the internet.
We got in touch with one such person through a mutual friend who agreed to speak with us on the condition of anonymity. Here's what this person had to say.
BUSINESS INSIDER: How easy is it to download a book?
ANONYMOUS: It's far easier than the publishers would like, I'm sure. There are the conventional means people know from the sexier side of pirating music and movies, like torrent sites. But because ebook files are so tiny, like, even less than a megabyte, it's easy to find them as direct downloads on certain websites.
Making one available for download, though, is a little trickier. If the book's already commercially available as an ebook through Amazon or something, you need to break the DRM. If it's not available, then you need to scan a physical copy of the book. Page by page. And there's really no shortcut to that.
BI: How'd you get started in book piracy?
A: I think it was when I had every intention of buying this old John Grisham book for my Kindle. Instead of searching for it on Amazon, I just Googled "john grisham the firm ebook." That's all it took. The results took me right to a place where I could download it for free.
BI: Why do you consciously not pay for books?
A: I mean, there's the whole "information should be free" idea. I like that. The internet-as-library is really appealing. Other than that, it saves money. That's really reductive, but it's honest.
BI: Shouldn't artists be paid for their work?
A: They should. I'm aware of the hypocrisy here. Yet it ought to say something when I can get a book for free in two clicks when it takes more than that to buy one.
BI: What's wrong with the current state of intellectual property law?
A: I think I saw this in one of your previous posts - IP law was drawn up at a time when people had no idea the internet was coming. How could people then account for the technology we have now?
BI: What's the future of books, physical and otherwise?
A: Paper books will be on the decline, but I can't imagine them disappearing for good. It'll be harder and harder for bookstores to stay in business, but not impossible. Ebooks will become more the norm. Especially textbooks.
It seems a lot like when the iPod came out. Even though we have these magical devices that can hold thousands of songs, a small number of people still buy physical albums. The same will happen with books, it'll just take longer.