COPYRIGHT MATTERS! The POWER of DMCA - another Ebay Bootlegger is DEAD

Ebay seller PARSBE11 is dead.

Not literally. But he's now a NARU, which is eBay-speak for "Not a Registered User."

This greedhead was selling knock-offs on any best-selling author he figured wasn't paying attention.

This included the usual suspects like obese masochist hack-writing fool E.L. James.

This seller was warned via PM's. As in:

"You do NOT own copyright as you claim. You WILL be suspended if you keep at it. Why risk losing your chance on selling those $200 sneakers you're offering, or buying more of the underwear you've just bought, just to rip off an author's royalty and sell a $1.83 download?"

Well, some people are sociopaths.

Or stupid.

The point is, if authors and publishers are offended at people using the "I own copyright" caveat on eBay, there's good news. The auctions end. The sellers do get suspended. This is not "whack-a-mole." On eBay it's not easy to get another account and do it over again.

Keep selling Harper Lee, or Charles Duhigg, and you won't last long. You get a warning. Keep at it and you get a suspension.

So PARSBE11 was exposed for being a liar, and paid the price. All the auctions had the same obnoxious disclaimer, which eBay should STOP allowing.

The good thing here, is that authors and publishers who take action can be proud of not only looking out for themselves, but others, too. This includes some who aren't aware that eBay, the biggest auction site on the Net, hasn't yet tightened up its rules and regulations to prohibit ridiculous disclaimers. That eBay is NOT Amazon and does NOT have download sales. That eBay's authors who claim to have some excuse for putting everybody's best-seller on a CD-R or DVD-R are just parasites.

Goodbye PARSBE11. And thanks to the authors and publishers who actually DO own copyright.

COPYRIGHT MATTERS!

It's easy to get a parasite squashed on eBay. It takes less than a minute for a copyright owner (or anyone authorized by the copyright owner) to send the auction number to vero@ebay.com. That's all it takes. Almost anyone can do it, except, I guess, a porcine illiterate like E.L. James, who probably gets a masochism-griven orgasm every type she reads a bootlegger's line "I own copyright" on her books.

EBAY BOOTLEGS the NY TIMES BEST SELLER LIST

Imagine going to the counter of your local bookstore with five best sellers.

You slap a $100 bill on the counter, and walk out. The cashier says, "Hey, this is counterfeit!" You say, "How do I know that? Looks good to me. I'm JUST a person, I'm not with the Treasury Department."

How far would you get before you were tackled by law enforcement?

That's the "real world."

On the Internet, EBAY gives the benefit of the doubt to anyone selling counterfeits and fakes. Despite having a rule AGAINST such things, EBAY did not stop the auction below, which is a fake, unauthorized, totally and blatantly illegal sale of copyrighted material:

Somebody is claiming to have the rights to toss THREE HUNDRED New York Times Best Sellers on a DVD and sell it? And EBAY doesn't do anything?

Can we see the fine print on this outrage?

This ad was reported and IGNORED by EBAY.

Why? They can hide behind Internet law that was created 20 years ago, before piracy. Websites are "just venues" people use. How do they know what's legal or not? They need to be told.

Compare that to your bookstore cashier, who can and WILL scan a $100 bill before accepting it. The cashier isn't saying "my bookstore is JUST a venue, I'll take anything that looks like a $100 bill, and even a coupon from somebody who says "This is from Random House and entitles me to $100 worth of their books for free."

EBAY has very few rules when it comes to digital versions of copyrighted books. The ones they have are skewed to misguided interpretation by their lowest-level employees, the ones who cast a sleepy eye at items bidders send in via "report this link," the obscure hot link faintly viewable on every eBay auction.

One laughable rule: offering eBooks via "download" or e-mail is not allowed...but if you put SEVEN THOUSAND of them on a DVD you made, that's fine.

Another laughable rule: if you claim "I own copyright" you won't be challenged. Also, you can state "I will send this item by mail" and not charge any shipping, and claim to be in Sri Lanka, and no red flag goes up, even when your feedback says "Great download, I got it an hour after I paid. Great seller! What a BARGAIN!"

This greedy seller's other ad offers, yes, SEVEN THOUSAND copyrighted mysteries for sale. All royalties and profits to HIM and EBAY.

These ads were cleverly designed so that the average VeRO rep wouldn't see any abuse...no name of a book company or author...that information hidden via a hot link to another website.

It's more than a shame that today, book companies, TV networks and even film studios are groveling in front of INTERNET GIANTS like GOOGLE, AMAZON and EBAY who control the world and make sure lawmakers do not pass any legislation against piracy and abuse.

This is why any eBook is easily available on the notorious "torrents," in private "forums," and often on impudent blogs owned by GOOGLE (Blogspot) or sometimes hosted by nose-thumbing Communists in Croatia somewhere.

This Irish bootlegger has a lot of nerve AND greed, because selling a 30 cent DVD for $12 isn't enough.

The ad includes "click here" links to THIS place:

HUH? This is just one of those mysterious websites, like Pirate Bay, that stay in business because Internet law has no teeth. What's the deal here? The "server" is in Russia or Croatia? The credit card money is diverted to a bank in Sweden or Switzerland?

Maybe Random House and Knopf and Bantam are sighing, "It's whack-a-mole, if we spend a fortune in suing some punk, he'll get a slap on the wrist and put the website back up again under a new name." Which isn't exactly true. Ask "Kim Dotcom" who ran Megaupload and is currently sweating out a life behind bars.

The good news?

A dedicated and experienced VeRO rep will find any abuse and remove it.

The "catch" is that the author or publisher has to have one.

Another problem is that in another few years, even more people will be Internet-savvy enough to find the FREE torrents and forums, ones with servers located in places where copyright is not enforced. Wait long enough and yes, eBay's cheap grifters won't be able to sell George R.R. Martin, E.L. James or Cassandra Clare (to name three fools who don't monitor the site properly) because $5 for the entire collection of an author is too much. FREE is better.

For the good of the economy, the future should see a law that lets an ISP block a rogue website, and international laws that can put a bootlegger in jail.

"Just a Venue" EBAY should be held responsible for aiding and abetting bootleggers. They should be obligated to answer red-flag queries and DEMAND to see the papers on sellers who claim "I own copyright, or the item is in public domain, or I'm an authorized re-seller."

Some anti-piracy organizations are filing suit against abusers. That should happen on eBay. There's no reason why, when eBay is in cohoots with Paypal, that sellers should be allowed to keep the money they stole. After a VeRO report proves a seller has no rights to the money, that money should be given to the rights owner, or to charity. Right now, creeps like this bootlegger of the NY TIMES list and SEVEN THOUSAND thrillers, can laugh at all the illegal money in his bank account.

But right now people on eBay can easily, unwittingly buy from bootleggers because they figure "if it's on EBAY it must be legal." They type in a favorite author, or they check what's new in the eBook category, and they find items like the above...or items similar to ones chronicled in previous posts.

It is VITAL that publishers not rely on DIGIMARC or WEB SHERIFF if it means ignoring abuse. "I can't afford to pay them $2 every time they file a DMCA" is NOT an excuse. Go get an intern to do it. EBAY is a big website and should NOT have bootlegs on it. Guarantee: that Intern will be saying, "anything else for me to do?" because if he's good, he'll eradicate 90% of the abuse in a week or two on everything the publisher is trying to sell.

Literate, quivering bunnies in the publishing world are saying, "We're in a SEA CHANGE, and we don't know the PARADIGM, or the SCHADENFREUDE." And I say take the dictionary out of your gob and face the real world. Get organized, get laws passed, and use the DMCA currently available to remove blatant abuse on EBAY.

WINNING - authors are beating EBAY book bootleggers

This could be a poster of an author, not Charlie Sheen.

Charlie's infamous "WINNING!" line, was a brag about his quality of life.

Well, the quality of author lives gets a lot better when they don't see scabs and parasites bootlegging on EBAY, which is the highest profile Internet site for STEALING BOOKS.

Many "happy" bidders never heard of "digital downloads" or "cloud lockers" or even pdf, mobi and epub files...until they searched for a favorite author and discovered a "wonderful bargain price" on a book. Huh? $1.00 or $2.00 to own the latest best seller? And I can read it on my laptop? Whee!

SUSPENDED:

ALSO SUSPENDED:

Not suspended, but no longer abusing authors, is Clint in Tennessee. He had the nerve to say "I own copyright...I am an authorized re-seller..." on dozens of bootleg auctions. Unfortunately this is a new caveat-gambit that many parasites are using now. BUT...

...after a few VeRO complaints sent to Ebay he pulled the dozens of offending auctions. Like so:

Gosh, a guy in Tennessee pulled all his auctions because he suddenly realized there was an "error" in his listings.

The "error" was stating "Attention EBAY, I own the copyright or have re-sale rights or the item is in public domain."

It would be nice if, when an auction like this is reported, eBay would call or PM the author and say, "OK, fax us the signed document stating you are authorized." But they don't.

They expect authors to do the work of sending in a DMCA to vero@ebay.com.

It's unfortunate that it's a burden on authors, but we all must use "vigilance." The good news is that anyone can be a VeRO rep. An author who is too busy or too disgusted to check eBay once a week can authorize a friend or relative. I rep dozens of authors, actors and actresses (FREE) because I have perfected easy ways to find and remove the auctions. (If you want my help or advise, e-mail me at CYKOTTICK at HOTMAIL.COM)

We're WINNING because more authors are now aware of the problem and are routinely taking a few minutes a week to check Ebay and type in their name and add EBOOK or KINDLE or PDF to find the abusers.

Publishers unfortunately don't seem so motivated, because they seem to use professional "Web Sheriff" type companies that charge a few bucks per stoppage. You'd think they'd at least get an intern to help. Thing is, if the biggest names were covered (Rowling, Patterson, King, James, etc.) as well as anyone on the Times best-seller list, these parasites wouldn't have anyone to exploit.

And if eBay didn't allow these parasites to use caveats like "I am the copyright owner" with impunity, or "I will send this PDF file by mail, not digital delivery," this problem wouldn't even exist.

Cynics and apathetic loafers will say, "oh, it's WHACK-A-MOLE, it's not worth the effort."

It is worth the effort, and sellers DO get suspended, and others DO cease and desist. I've seen it in my FIFTEEN YEARS as an eBay VeRO rep.

Some months ago, there were over 40 sellers from Sri Lanka (or pretending to be) throwing every Stephen King, James Patterson, J.K. Rowling book on eBay. You could get an "entire collection" of an author's work for $3.99. Now? Most are gone. Most weren't suspended, they just gave up because they kept getting reported.

REPORT auctions. Join VERO (vero@ebay.com). Fans who see auctions that boldly state "I'll send your file by e-mail" or "free shipping item will be sent to you" can use the "report auction" link, and report the item as a violation of "digital delivery."

It works.

EBAY: "I'm HAPPY" you let a guy in Tennessee rape Philippa Gregory

Talk about cheap lying bastards. Here's a guy in Tennessee who raped Philippa Gregory for 99 cents.

Raped her intellectual property, that is. And he got a "HAPPY" comment for it, too.

From his feedback:

One of the latest scams on EBAY is sellers insisting they OWN THE COPYRIGHT to every best seller on the NY Times list.

Oh, and they own the copyright on anything else they think they can bootleg for a dollar or two. Like Stephen King:

It's pretty obvious that this is a violation of EBAY's own rule on "digital delivery."

He says "WE WILL EMAIL BOOK..."

DUH.

According to EBAY, "We have priorities." Meaning, it might take up to a week before a complaint is acted upon.

The person at EBAY I spoke to also admitted that sometimes the item is NEVER stopped. "Report it again."

You see, they are very busy at EBAY, and it's not that they ignore or trash complaints they just, well, say "REPORT IT AGAIN."

They might also not even want to talk to you, and instead put you on hold for literally a half hour, while blasting music and constant "Your call is important to us, stay on the line" messages.

Meanwhile, the HAPPY customers of this HAPPY seller can go check and see who else he's raping with his lies about owning their copyright. Yes, that OWNING COPYRIGHT line is prominent (red lined for your benefit)

A seller like this also gets the benefit of many "warnings" and then "restrictions" (ie, seller can't post for a week or a month). Ultimately there's suspension. But the suspension would come a lot faster if authors get involved and send DMCA's through the vero program (vero@ebay.com).

While it's not going to hurt Stephen King much if some cretin in Tennessee offers up $1 or $2 copies of HIS books, the more that "HAPPY" EBAYERS get for chump change, the less they buy.

Worse, if they do buy, they'll "be sure to buy again" from the cretin in Tennessee, who will surely have something on his list of 30 or 40 books that will be worth the $1 bid. If not, he'll happily take requests, and go to the sneaky torrent sites or forums where he can get his free downloads of most anyone's book, and then bring it over to eBay.

Meanwhile new authors, mid-list authors, and others who rely on people buying their books, get nothing. Potential readers are too busy reading bootlegs and bragging how they just finished the new Andy Weir and the latest masterpiece from E.L. James.

You'd think that when a creepy liar blatantly says of Stephen King, Andy Weir, Paula Hawkins and everyone else, "Attention Ebay Staff: I am an Authoried Reseller..also the copyright holder..." authors would literally call him on it. Just out of pride of copyright. It's the BEST way to handle it.

I've called EBAY. I've said, "He's telling YOU, EBAY STAFF, that he's authorized. Why don't you call him and demand that he fax you that authorization?"

Because EBAY would rather get a commission on a dollar from a redneck thief in Tennessee, and because EBAY doesn't want to pay employees to lose sales. Ebay would rather have the serenity of being "just a venue," that acts only when they absolutely have to.

Andy Weir, Philippa Gregory, etc., you may have your hands full with writing new books, answering fan mail, Tweeting, playing with your websites, doing phone interviews, etc. etc. But you still can deputize a relative or a fan to be your VeRO rep. That person would be glad to check eBay once a week for ANDY WEIR eBook or ANDY WEIR kindle and take a minute to forward the auction numbers for removal.

I've seen eBay piracy of mp3 files and music dwindle to near nothing. The same can happen with this new phenomenon of digital theft of copyrighted books.

"HOLY CRAP!" Plagiarizing romance author Becky McGraw

"Based on a novel by a man named Lear, and I need a job, and I want to be a PAPERBACK WRITER..."

Laura Harner's written 75 books in the past five years. Except...some were "based on a novel" by SOMEBODY ELSE.

That includes Becky McGraw, who gave out with a "HOLY CRAP!" when she found out.

I've been plagiarized too, Becky. I've gotten lawyers involved and gotten settlements. I remember the first time it happened, my lawyer said, "Well, what are your damages? Can you prove the plagiarism interfered with sales of your book?"

I said, "No, of course not, the books aren't in competition. My damages are that I'm pissed off, and I don't like being somebody's unwilling partner or ghost-writer. I did the research and somebody else gets a paycheck for it? I want half his advance...and how about punitive damages?"

My cases involved non-fiction. The authors couldn't find information so they went to my books and copied everything off, changing a word here or there and making the big mistake of not crediting me. A few lines of "according to author Ronald L. Smith" or "as quote in Ronald L. Smith's book..." would've made a big difference.

As for fiction, there are hack genres (romance, erotica, sci-fi, westerns) where you're expected to simply knock out purple prose or a load of cliche-ridden drivel WITHOUT resorting to the arduous task of copying/adapting/plagiarizing someone else.

It's quite pathetic when you can't simply make-up stuff (maybe steal the plot line if you must) and instead go about "adapting" every paragraph.

I'm not plagiarizing. Am I? I'm giving credit to the original source, the Daily Mail. I'm also not profiting in any way, as this website has no advertising.

Harner's excuse would be, what, that her market is "gay" fiction and so she's not competing with McGraw? True, but she's using McGraw's creativity and making her an unwilling partner. Ethics and morality aside, what Harner's done involves illegal financial gain.

It's fortunate that social media helped Becky McGraw become aware of the problem. Back in the old days, an author might not spot plagiarism except by pure accident. In one case, I was browsing a book on comedians and noticed my own writing. With no credit. In another, it was my father who bought a book and said, as a compliment, "This author obviously read your book!" HUH??

What is most unfortunate, is that the Internet is destroying book sales and allowing parasites to prosper. Why would Harner be tossing out 75 books in 5 years, except that volume is the only way she can make money? Sites such as Amazon, that might pay a dollar in royalty on an eBook, are not going to be selling more than a few hundred or a few thousand copies of somebody's niche novel. The odds keep getting lower as more and more amateur idiots flood the site with badly written garbage, and "novels" that are often less than 10,000 words.

It's possible Harner would've been less blatant if she didn't have to knock out so much for so little.

A related problem is that on EBAY, self-publishing authors are throwing their titles out there hoping for sales, and many "authors" are simply taking public domain material and putting their name on it. Some grab every article they can Google, cobble it together as an e-book or print-on-demand title, and figure no author is going to notice or be able to do much about it.

In my two cases, after all, my lawyers were dealing with actual published books from real New York-based companies. They weren't trying to track down somebody offering eBooks from a tiny town somewhere, or by somebody on eBay muddying the waters by using Sri Lanka as an address. Today? A lawyer would probably try to shake down Amazon for aiding and abetting theft (which could possibly be defended with the Digital Millennium Act's "we're just a venue" excuse). A lawyer might also be able to go after the credit card company that was accepting payment, as well as the author, and have that money re-directed to the injured party.

Oh. As for punitive damages, I was disappointed to learn that this is a gray area. "You have to prove malice," I was told. "You have to prove that it was not just some kind of mistake or innocent error in judgment." Then again, don't judges sometimes award such damages, as a warning to others that ignorance of the law is no excuse?

Re-writing pulp fiction? Oh, for shame, Laura Harner, for shame.

What next, copying stuff from Nora Roberts? "HOLY CRAP" indeed.

40 Authors suffer from SYLOSIS on EBAY

What is SYLOSIS?

It's actually a name of a HEAVY METAL BAND. They have an album called "Dormant Heart."

And in tribute, a worthy on EBAY is flooding the market with cheap dupe bootlegs of every author he can find.

Why? Well, heavy metal music does appeal to the "evil" side, heh heh heh. Har har har.

Let's see SOME of the books Mr. Sylosis is stealing:

More? Sure.

Yes, some guy in Naples, Florida (many parasites are in the South where it's very low rent) is selling out any author he can find.

For NINETY NINE CENTS.

After EBAY and PAYPAL take their cuts (they are partners in this crime) he's getting maybe 60 cents.

Still, if all he has to do is supply a download link, or e-mail the file, then ha ha. Cheap BEER MONEY!! Sell a few books, and have a beer.

Why is he still on EBAY?

Because none of the authors or publishers have noticed his auctions. Yet.

As a VeRO rep, I spot HINKY very easily. But Napoleon Hill, if he has a VeRO rep at all, can't even spot an auction that has EBOOK in the title.

UPDATE OCT 8: seller removed the dozens of auctions, probably as each individual author complained, and the seller was facing suspension. Each auction now has this notice:

UPDATE NOVEMBER 11: The seller has changed his eBay user name. Of course, if the seller stupidly tries to go back and bootleg authors who have reported him before, he will be SUSPENDED.

GOD BLESS THIS BOOK THIEF

EBAY confirms a seller that has FIVE different aliases. This is one of them.

Note the happy people who praise this "seller" for offering illegal dupes. Do they realize the stuff is illegal? "Gosh, how can it be illegal if it's on lovable EBAY?"

Isn't that lovely feedback? "GOD BLESS THIS SELLER" for providing a cut-rate collection of EVERY Paul Coelho book for under $5.00.

Note this seller preys mostly on the usual suspects: Dan Brown, James Patterson, Patricia Cornwell, Terry Pratchett, J.R.R. Tolkien and George Martin. With those bringing in the most money, the seller also branched out to abuse dozens of others.)

Why have FIVE aliases? Easy. If one is suspended, or "restricted" for a month, the other accounts can roll merrily along.

Like so:

Sometimes this seller has had to abandon an account because of a negative that gives the game away.

Yes, FIVE aliases confirmed. Only ONE is, as of this writing, suspended. And it's none of the above.

UPDATE: NOV 2

The good news is that several of these IDs are now SUSPENDED, and the others are dormant.

How PAULA HAWKINS is pick-pocketed by "clever" Illiterates. Say what?

Paula Hawkins, best-selling author.

Both her ebook AND her audiobooks are being sold for chump change on EBAY.

If it can be copied, it can be stolen. That's the way it is.

Here's an illiterate who is "smart" enough to know where to find free mp3 files on torrents and hidden internet forums...which he then sneaks onto EBAY so he can make some money.

Duh! "This is a downloadble" audio. "I sent it to your paypal email."

You think the ad is stupid? So are a lot of EBAY employees. It's 50-50 on whether a Hawkins fans can report this and get it removed.

Some EBAY employees would say, "Uh, it doesn't say it's a "digital download" so it's technically not in violation of our rules.

That means Paula, her lawyer, her publisher, or a designated friend or relative has to stop it as a VeRO (verified rights owner) violation.

Ever have someone come up to you and pull a con?

I have. Like: "Hey man, do you know what time it is?" "No, I'm not wearing a watch." "You wanna buy one???"

On EBAY there are some sellers like THIS:

Most any VeRO rep seeing the header on EBAY would pass it by. As in, "Oh, somebody is selling a used copy of the book and starting it at $1.99."

But read the copy for the ad:

Yes, this con-artist flashes his fake and hopes somebody will buy.

Again, it's 50-50 whether EBAY would stop the auction if it was reported. After all, this fine seller is stating he's offering an eBook, but is not saying he'll deliver it via e-mail or a "cloud" locker or some other download service.

EBAY makes sure to tell sellers how to beat the system. As in: "Your auction was stopped because you stated you were offering a digital delivery. In your ad, state you will send the file by postal mail." Or, don't state anything at all. Heh heh heh.

Again, it's up to Hawkins, her lawyer or her publisher to take a moment each week to stop this crap. Some publishers will frankly admit that they don't have the staff to bother with this. They rely on others to report auctions, as in: "Oh, let Rowling or Stephen King's people go after him. He'll get suspended if three or four people complain. So why should I be one of those?"

The answer is that the quicker these parasites are stopped the better. You don't see them pulling this with mp3 music files. For some reason, they get the idea that authors are easier victims than rock stars.

PRETTY LITTLE LIAR BOOK THIEF in ARGENTINA -- DONATES 10% to CHARITY

Oh, EBAY should be proud.

So should the HUMANE SOCIETY.

Here's a lovely Latina in Argentina, a "fairy princess," who very kindly steals from rich authors and publishers, gives 10% to dogs and cats, and the rest to herself.

The header is typical of the eBook thieves. It obviously is offering a digital download (note: NO postage charge, despite this auction being from somebody in Argentina).

The cute part is that this seller will be donating 10% of her theft to charity. So leave her alone, she's doing GOOD WORK.

Like most of the conniving con-artists offering illegal downloads from Argentina, Russia, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Russia, etc. this one adds that caveat that eBay requests. You know, the one that pretends that the seller is a) the copyright owner or b) has re-sale rights and c) is aware digital downloads aren't legal so will be sending the item by mail...even though it's a digital file, and the feedback always mentions "it was easy to download, thanks."

What will end this abuse?

Authors and publishers need to check EBAY once a week and take a MINUTE to send offending auction numbers to vero@ebay.com.

It's the only sure way to defeat all loopholes.

If the author, publisher or other authorized person can state "under penalty of perjury" that the pretty little liar does NOT own copyright and is NOT authorized to re-sell pdf/mobi/epub/kindle files, the item is removed. The seller will usually be suspended if there are multiple complaints.

FOLLOW-UP, OCT 7th - This seller, reported to the charity involved, reported to several book publishers, is no longer offering illegal dupe eBooks. For the moment.

BREIN Fights GOOGLE - Where's the Publisher Equivalent Fighting EBAY?

We know the truth. "Just a Venue" organizations such as GOOGLE and EBAY are partners in crime with BOOTLEGGERS.

Google's YouTube, Blogspot and GooglePlay allow anyone to post, share and sell copyrighted material. This material then makes money for the uploader AND for Google.

Similarly, EBAY will allow somebody to get five accounts all supposedly based in Russia, or ten accounts all supposedly based in Sri Lanka, and even coach these sellers on how to bootleg eBooks with impunity. As in: "Say in your ad you own copyright or it's public domain" and "Say in your ad that you won't be offering a digital download but will send the item by mail."

Whether it's GOOGLE or EBAY the bottom line is that the giant company gets bigger. The Internet monsters have gotten to the point where they can dictate to once-powerful giants. Amazon can tell Disney and can tell book companies, "Nope, we are NOT carrying your product unless you PLAY BALL WITH US." Google's YouTube will say "Sorry, NBC, ABC, CBS, Columbia, Warners and RCA, you might as well play ball with us, and upload your product and get a few pennies in royalties, because we will make you jump through DMCA hoops on EVERY violation you want to report."

What's it take to get justice? Apparently a government agency. In Holland, BREIN is fighting Google's hypocrisy.

Where's the agency looking out for writers? Do writer's unions do nothing except take a huge fee and offer a dental plan? Does HarperCollins, Simon & Shuster and the others think that finding a "Web Sheriff" agency (like Digimarc) is enough? What does Digimarc do? Put in a digital mark on Kindle files so they can track if they're being illegally uploaded and downloaded at Kickass or Demonoid or Pirate Bay? That does NO good when those torrent sites snicker and ignore take-down requests. And where's Digimarc when it comes to filing a DMCA on eBay against a Sri Lanka seller with a long list of best-selling authors being abused?

The publishing world is SUPPOSEDLY full of bright, literate people. It's SUPPOSEDLY loaded with authors who want to champion truth and beauty, and point out injustices and make the "human condition" a little better. Instead, the scummiest Internet torrent sites and even the biggest auction site (EBAY) can get away with massive copyright abuse?

Where's the BREIN for authors and publishers, telling EBAY they can NOT allow pdf mobi epub kindle sellers to run rampant?

Where's the BREIN for authors and publishers, demanding that torrents be blocked and that every ISP shut down service to those who download from them?

Imagine what would happen if the average person couldn't easily go to torrents, forums and blogs, and download the latest best sellers. They'd buy that material, or at least take it out of the library.

BREIN is showing that GOOGLE is not GOD. It's time for politicians to pass strong laws that reduce the power of these gigantic monopolies.

There should be an American version doing the same.

It's also time that publishers and unions truly get organized and quash flagrant abuse. The RIAA can take down any seller who offers the Top 10 albums on mp3. That's why you don't see that crap on eBay, even from ubiquitous Sri Lanka sellers with a dozen aliases. Where's the publisher equivalent?

AUTHOR BE AWARE: Your Books Stolen at the Forums

A funny thing happens in the forums: authors get their books "shared" without permission.

Yes, THIS is how the books also end up on EBAY where they are SOLD without permission.

Caveat Emptor? Sure, right here:

If your book was released in ebook format, it's probably being given away on the Internet RIGHT NOW. Most likely in a forum, rather than a blog or torrent.

OK. Do I need to define my terms?

Blog: This used to be where music thieves prospered. Google's "Blogspot" was a pioneer in allowing anyone to get a blog for any purpose. Quickly, bloggers learned they could make money by stealing music, or offering thousands of porn images, etc. The blogger would put a Paypal "tip jar" on the blog. "Want more? Tip me." The blogger would also hook up with Rapidshare, Megaupload, and other "cloud lockers" that would pay the blogger for his "hard work" in upping stolen files.

Rapidshare and Megaupload are long gone, and blogs aren't so popular for copyright theft. That's because of forums and torrents.

Forums, which usually require signing up to become a member, are hidden hives for "sharing" anything and everything. "Sharers" are protected. If links disappear (get reported), the moderator can see who looked at that post, and soon determine the spy. The spy is booted, the ISP blocked, and the thievery continues. A great benefit of forums is one can type in a name and instantly get the goodies, as there are dozens if not hundreds of people all "sharing" files.

Torrents? Most, like the forums, are "private." The idea here is that instead of using a "file locker," people all hook together electronically and suck files off each other's designated "sharing file." You put your favorite mp3 music files or pdf mobi kindle book files into a folder that all your fellow torrenters can access. The more popular the file, the quicker the download.

At the moment, forums still beat out the torrents because most people don't know how torrents work and are leery of letting strangers have access, even limited, to their computers. Since individuals in forums upload their own files to their choice of "cloud" server, they alone pocket the money they get.

Back to the funny things that happen in forums. Like seeing your book being given away.

I discovered this myself. My "Horror Stars on Radio" book, from McFarland, turned up in several forums.

Take your choice on how that happened: a) the publisher sends review copy eBooks to anyone with a blog, including those who secretly hustle them around to make money for themselves, or b) somebody bought the book on Amazon and decided it was so great they wanted to "share" it with people who might otherwise not know about it. Thus, they get a hearty "thanks!" and a "wow, great book" for themselves.

As obscure as my "Horror Stars on Radio" book is, forums have others even more esoteric. In one day, September 15, a fellow posted over ONE HUNDRED text books, including these:

In order for people not to spend any bread, and to make sure nobody "spoils the fun," most pirates spread their links to a variety of "cloud" servers. Usually they stick to servers that will kick back some money to them. Speaking of bread:

Just click the link, and off you go, to a "cloud" server that might toss a few ads in your face, or hope you'll "buy a premium account" for a faster download. The deal is often that the uploader gets a penny for every download, or maybe twenty five cents ends up buying a "premium account" thanks to the enticing item.

I know, it seems very petty. Authors usually don't make minimum wage for the time they put into a book. But if you're a Communist (and many uploaders are, in theory if not in Russia) your view is "everything should be shared." And if you make a few kopeks while you do it, why not?

If you're a Capitalist, why, you rationalize that the author is rich, or should be happy to be published, and YOU living in Plano, Texas or in Sri Lanka or wherever, can help pay your low rent with a little help from energetic uploading.

Today's post was inspired by a friend of mine.

She e-mailed that she was waiting and waiting and waiting to get Chrissie Hynde's new book out of the library. She was waiting for some other book, too, and apparently the one copy was stalled. Somebody lost it? Stole it? She remarked, "I suppose I could find it on line." (Hint Hint).

She only knew of the famous torrents, the nasty-named Pirate Bay, Kickass, Demonoid, etc.

But as you see from the above, the old-fashioned "forums" that have a huge range of freebies (books, magazines, tv episodes, music, porn, plus general chat areas) are still doing well.

Yes, I found the two books she wanted and e-mailed her the links. Why? My rationalization was that she wasn't going to buy the books anyway. I was just helping out a friend who was waiting on the New York Public Library that had a long list of people waiting on one title, and had apparently lost the other title entirely.

See how easy it is to rationalize?

Ten years ago, when mp3 files became popular, the rationalization in forums, and on blogs (torrents weren't around yet) was: "This is like sharing. What's wrong with making a copy for a friend?"

The answer was that we're not talking about friends, but a conspiracy of strangers. We're talking about blogs where one egomaniac with a desire to be a "blogfather" and get tons of "nice comments" offers downloads of HUNDREDS of items, each one going to THOUSANDS of downloaders. That's massive piracy.

In an era of self-entitlement, of "Ashley Madison" websites, of hedonism, of "enjoy yourself before you're blown up or the planet starts burning from the heat," we overlook little things like copyright. The chant in the forums is "copyright is COPY WRONG," and guys like Assange are heroes, because, don't you know, copying copyrighted material is actually "freedom of speech."

And so it is, and so it goes. You, AUTHOR, are losing sales. Bookstores are disappearing. Jeff Bezos has helped turn readers into Kindlers, and real books are becoming fire wood. Used bookstores must rely on old-fashioned readers, and on sales of books that have not yet been digitized. But, ha ha, most any "public domain" book HAS been digitized by a library somewhere, and has ended up at archive.org or at the Gutenberg Project. PS, there are dedicated "sharers" out there who feel it's their duty to digitize every magazine or book they can stick on a scanner.

Meanwhile, with very little effort (just joining a few of the "usual suspect" forums, everyone has plenty to read. FREE. And the more people get for FREE the less they need to buy.

The bottom line is probably: "How can this be stopped? Isn't this a bad situation for the economy?"

The answer is that yes, it's bad, and yes it can be stopped IF governments stop being Assange-holes and understand that blocking nasty websites or shutting them down is a good idea. It's pathetically rare the number of times ICE or some other government agency blocks a site such as Megaupload. It's pathetic how many years it takes to get a site taken down and get the perp prosecuted.

Megaupload was owned by an obese German who legally changed his name to "Kim Dotcom," and ended up with the gaudiest estate in New Zealand, a palace of excess. The U.S. government, some four years later, is still wrangling to extradite him and keep his bank account frozen.

Every time the government proposes any type of new law, such as SOPA, the Asssange-holes, abetted by Google, Wikipedia and others who profit off copyright abuse, make sure it's shot down. They scream about "Freedom of Speech," forecast doom, and even "go black" for a day, encouraging the wrath of hackers and other greedheads.

Ebay has been getting away with being a mammoth fence for stolen goods, including book files, because they can claim to be "just a venue." They will say "We have no idea if Ms. Rule or Mr. Patterson or anyone else gave permission for one of our sellers to offer all their books on PDF format, delivered on a CD or thumb drive. It's fine with us, unless they tell us otherwise."

What can change that ignorant, greedy, destructive thinking? Perhaps lobbying by publishers, or by the do-nothing author unions. The fact is, EBAY chooses not to allow certain things on their site, from chloroform to used panties. They do have a rule against selling "digital downloads" that bidders can get via e-mail or a cloud service, but the current loophole is that the auction stays IF the seller states "I am the copyright owner or authorized re-seller" and/or "I will ship the $2.99 pdf file from Croatia via postal mail, because eBay policy forbids e-mailing it." Ebay conveniently ignores that the seller gets positives with lines like "thanks, great item, it was easy to download!" So it's up to the author to send in a complaint saying "I'm the copyright owner, not this seller using five different accounts..."

We've seen the utter destruction of the music world due to piracy. Record stores are gone. Out of print records are thrown all over the forum world, and you can use YouTube as a jukebox to find even very obscure singles or entire albums. Will the publishing world, supposedly full of smart, creative people, allow this to happen to them?

How EBAY Coaches Sellers to Cheat Authors

Digital book files are flying all over the Internet. The stealing is called "sharing."

It's no surprise that EBAY sellers get the idea they can "re-sell" pdf/mobi/kindle files like second-hand books. Or, keep making copies.

When a seller declares "I will send you the file by e-mail" or "you will get a download link within 24 hours," that's the big red flag. IF anyone reports the link, it's taken down.

EBAY then helpfully points to their policy, and how to find loopholes to get around it.

What all of that means is that sellers shouldn't put their files in the "books" category, and they should lie and claim they own the rights.

Like so:

Only the above caveat was, irony of ironies, at the bottom of an ad for a pdf bootleg of "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak.

EBAY, hiding behind the "Digital Millenium Act," which was put into law well before "file sharing" became popular, declares "we are JUST a venue." They can't be sure if some guy in Sri Lanka owns the rights to Zusak's book or not.

With the caveat in place, nobody can report the auction except Zusak (his agent, publisher or whoever he's designated as his "VeRO - Verified Rights Owner" rep.

Look at the "Guidelines" below, and you'll see that EBAY coaches sellers (big yellow block) on the correct weasel words to use.

It's fortunate that most illiterate EBAY thieves never read the above guidelines, so they do get stopped. Again and again. Unfortunately, EBAY is very lenient about suspending anyone. The hardcore Sri Lanka bunch (some actually in Texas but faking a foreign location) get 10 or 20 aliases so they can pile up plenty of warnings.

The true professional penny-ante thieves add the lying caveat about "owning the rights" or declaring the new book "public domain," and so, bottom line, it's up to the rights owner to take a minute (literally, that's all it takes) to send the auction number in for removal. Yes, too often EBAY will figure the seller has simply made an "honest" mistake in claiming to own the rights to everything Rowling, King or Patterson wrote. But if that seller does it a second time on the same author, that IS a suspendable offense.

I know. Authors have plenty to do without glancing at eBay once a week, and that's especially true of the big shots. But EVERY author should be staying vigilant, for the good of all. The more people get free, or via bootlegs, the less they buy.

How THE BOOK THIEF is stealing THE BOOK THIEF by Markus Zusac. And YOUR book?

Oh, the IRONY.

Here's a seller in INDIA illegally making dupes of THE BOOK THIEF.

What a BARGAIN, only $2.99 for the PDF

This auction was reported to EBAY by a fan. EBAY let the auction stand.

Why?

Not every employee at EBAY is literate OR observant.

The fan went through the proper procedure. He found that little line in the ad that says "REPORT LINK."

He then used the menu to select the reason for the report and direct it to an employee expert enough to handle the particular complaint:

Too bad whoever glanced at the ad didn't notice the line about sending the book digitally (in violation of eBay rules).

They missed what I underlined in RED, which admits the book will, against eBay rules, be sent by e-mail (or by digital download off a "cloud locker.")

Ebay sellers often put the "I will send this via e-mail" or "you will get a download link" at the bottom of an ad, where an EBAY rep might not notice. I know, you'd think EBAY would channel complaints to an employee that knows what to look for, but that's not always the case.

What happens if EBAY doesn't enforce their own rules?

A fan can send in another complaint. Ebay cautions filing again "delays" the process. Perhaps indefinitely.

The other option is to contact the author, who should then send in a VeRO (verified rights owner) complaint, or have the publisher handle it.

If an author can't be reached (through a website, Facebook or Twitter) a bad alternative is to go to the book company's website. It may have a "report privacy" link on their website, only it may NOT work.

It's akin to "put it in the round file." Apparently book companies don't have some intern or "editorial assistant" to e-mail eBay with an auction number. Instead they forward the complaint to a "service" like Web Sheriff or Grayzone etc. These companies are expensive and mostly involved in finding download links at Internet torrents, forums and blogs. If they charge a buck per takedown, they may be instructed NOT to bother with eBay at all. They may also be told to concentrate only on certain authors.

What can be done?

It would of course be helpful if so-called "writer's unions" (the kind that have a rep stand around at a BEA convention boasting about dental plans) got into he game. It would be helpful of publishers seriously patrolled eBay.

It would also help if eBay didn't coach their criminals into put in an insane caveat about OWNING the copyright or RESALE rights to the book. This caveat is often enough to make an employee shrug and say "gosh, it sounds legal. We're just a venue. We won't ask the seller to give us proof."

Put the above in an ad, and don't mention the item will actually be sent via download or e-mail, and there's a 50-50 chance the auction will ONLY be stopped if there's a VeRO complaint.

Bottom line? Authors should join VERO, and glance at eBay once a week.

An author can have several "vero reps." It might be the author, the author's agent, the author's nosy Aunt Clara. Just fill in eBay's one-page form and that's it. After that, if a bogus auction is seen, all that's needed is to send in the auction number from one of the authorized e-mail accounts (author, agent, Aunt Clara) and the auction is removed.

Since eBay sellers do face suspension, and it's no longer easy to get multiple accounts, it doesn't take too many stoppages before a bootlegger gives up or IS suspended. The system does work.

ANY AUTHOR CAN BE PDF-MOBI-KINDLE BOOTLEGGED ON EBAY

What do Bradley Nelson, Carole J. Morton, Elissa Braunstein and David Samuel have in common?

Being bootlegged on EBAY.

Remember the old days when somebody would simply buy a book, then re-sell it to a used book dealer? Now that there's eBay, it seems that buyers of a download think they not only have the "right" to re-sell, but to, oh, make a few extra copies as well.

This EBAY seller probably bought original downloads of things he/she was interested in: obscure self-help, poetry and non-fiction. Then?

The ad makes no attempt to disguise how the book will be delivered, or that it is COPYRIGHTED.

This seller even offers items for only two dollars.

The above book is NOT one of those "public domain" titles that eBay nickel-and-dimers often sell. It's not one of the zillion "Get Rich on Ebay" "200 Great Sex Tips" "300 Fab Recipes" titles. And neither is this one:

The seller's eclectic list seems to involve personal likes...transformed into extra cash. Just not for the author. The seller puts them up as 30 day buy-it-now, with anywhere from 2 to 10 copies available.

Ebay, the "just a venue" people, say it's up to public-spirited citizens and alert authors and publishers to stop sellers like this.

In this case, the seller is violating eBay's rule on "digital downloads." It's pretty obvious this seller has no idea there IS such a rule, and probably no idea that copying anything in this age of Pirate Bay and YouTube is actually illegal.

Sadly, all this seller probably had to do was add a caveat, "I will send this book via the mail, as eBooks downloaded from a cloud service is illegal," to keep the auctions running. At least for a while. Ebay is about 50-50 in seeing through that conjob line. Sometimes an employee realizes it's a ruse, or checks a seller's personal messages to verify that download links are being offered. But sometimes, a seller keeps going for a very, very long time and is only stopped when enough authors and publishers send a VeRO (verified rights owner) complaint via fax or e-mail.