So, Why Can't I Share That eBook?

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.

http://www.casebriefs.com/blog/law/property/property-law-keyed-to-singer/intellectual-property/metro-goldwyn-mayer-studios-inc-mgm-v-grokster-ltd/

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:

http://jolt.law.harvard.edu/digest/copyright/capitol-records-v-thomas-rasset

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.