So, book thief, you want to
share that file and you don’t care that it’s illegal? You stand behind your
rationalization for breaking the law? Well, take a few minutes and read on.
Why is file sharing illegal?
Because in the United States of America the Supreme Court of the United States
has ruled it’s illegal, that’s why. When it comes to the law in the good old USA, SCOTUS is the final word. Period.
The landmark case was MGM Studios v. Grokster (SCOTUS, June
27, 2005). This link is the case in a nutshell for laypersons.
I’m not going to bore you
with a lot of legal mumbo-jumbo, but I will ask this question: Do you remember
when federal authorities were knocking on private citizens’ doors with search
warrants, and under the authority of those warrants, removed computers, which then led to prosecutions
for copyright infringement because those citizens were downloading music from file
sharing sites? No? Well then, you might want to take a look at this landmark
case:
There have been other cases
adjudicated under the Grokster ruling,
but I’ll give you a very short summation (if you will) of the bottom line:
It is illegal under copyright law to share (by any
means), duplicate, broadcast by any media ELECTRONIC files of copyrighted
material without the express permission of the author of said file or the
publisher of said file. This includes but is not limited to music, movies,
books, articles, software, even blog posts. Yes, I said blog posts.
There is no ambiguity in
that statement, nor is there any ambiguity in the cases that have been
adjudicated since Grokster.
I’ll make it even simpler
for you: Do yourself a favor and read the license agreement you automatically
agree to when you purchase a movie, music, ebook, software, etc.
The law does not care about
what reasons you may have for sharing that efile. The author of that ebook does
not care why you are sharing that file with your Aunt Minnie or your sister, or
your neighbor. The publisher does not care why you are sharing that file. None
of these parties care what convoluted logic you use to rationalize copying and sharing
copyrighted material. The FACT is that it is illegal and you can be prosecuted.
And believe this if you
don’t believe anything else: Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Let me repeat
that just to be sure you got it: IGNORANCE. OF. THE. LAW. IS. NO. EXCUSE. And if you try to claim ignorance, you'll probably (justifiably) be asked what rock you've been living under for the last nine years.
I’ll tell you something
else. Just like the music and movie industry, authors and publishers will band
together and exercise their rights under the law. Do you really want to try and
stand up to that juggernaut? Do you really want to risk becoming an example?
Do you really believe that
you can get away with piracy? Do you think because you deleted the file, closed
down your group of thieves, used a fake name, or otherwise tried to hide your
illegal activity you won’t be caught? Seriously, did you really believe you
could hide at all?
If you did, you really do
have FOOL tattooed on your forehead.
Oh, well, I’m not the only
one, you say. Millions of people do it every single day. Yeah, and if they
walked off the edge of a cliff, would you follow them? I didn’t think so.
And then there are the
owners of copyrighted material who say we shouldn’t ‘fly off the handle’ and
‘call our Facebook friends thieves’. We should ‘let them share the book’
because if a person reads the stolen file they may go and ‘buy my other books’.
If you are a pirate, you are
a thief.
If you are a thief, you are
NOT my friend and I'll go batshit on you all over the place. To hell with PR.
An author shouldn’t ‘fly off
the handle’ when they find out their book has been stolen because efile piracy
is a fact of life and nothing can be done to stop it? Well, Skippy, let me ask
you this question: If I come into your house and steal your jewelry, or I steal
your car, or your TV, are you going to sit back and call it a ‘fact of life’
because people steal all the time? Or are you going to get up off your naive, sanctimonious ass and call the cops? Yep, I thought so.
And here is the real kicker,
folks...Authors should keep quiet about piracy because it will alienate their
readers if the author becomes angry and/or confrontational.
Yeah, you read that right.
Yes, I do have the screenshots of these comments because I was floored when I
read them.
Sharing your Kindle, Nook,
iPod, or other electronic device on which the file was originally downloaded is
fine. Sending that file by any other means for any reason is illegal. And just because you may have the author's permission, you aren't in the clear. You'll need the permission of the manufacturer of the device. Good luck with that.
And don’t even start with
the “Well then, why is it okay to lend paperback books?” argument. Yes, it’s
okay until you copy that book by any means and distribute it without the
author’s or publisher’s permission. Period. End of discussion. Why? Because those are the terms set down by the publisher and printed clearly on either the very first or second page of that book you purchased AND because
that is the law, that’s why. Don’t like the law or think it’s unfair? Change
it. Think the publisher is being unfair? Well, sit down and write the publisher and tell them so. Otherwise, would you like some cheese with that whine?
Let’s put this in terms
everyone understands. See that red octagonal sign on your right that says in
big, white letters STOP? See Mr./Ms. Police Officer behind you in the unmarked
car as you roll past that sign without coming to a full stop? No? I’ll bet you
see those red and blue lights in your rearview mirror, don’t you? And I can
just hear you whining now, “But officer...” as the officer writes you a ticket. Do the smart thing and pay the fine because you don't even want to go before the judge in Traffic Court and tell your sob story. Oh, and don't run another STOP sign.
Are you getting it now? Is it
becoming clear now? No? You still think it’s okay to steal that file and do
what you like with it because you bought it or because your ‘friend’ gave it to
you? Well, when your sorry ass is standing in a courtroom and you are sentenced
to a fine of $250K for EACH offense (and you have x-number of books on your
Kindle you’d just love to share, don’t you?), which means every single efile
you pirated, I’ll bet you’ll ‘get it’ then, won’t you?
So, you just keep right on
starting your ‘secret’ groups. Keep right on pirating those files. The folks at
Grokster and Napster and BitTorrent said and did the same things.
You keep right on doing what
you’re doing, you douchecanoe. And while you’re at it, say a prayer that
authors don’t get together and decide to make YOU an example.
I can state with 100 percent
certainty you’ll ‘get it’ then.