Simon & Schuster BLOWS $250,000 on a Racist (while EBAY bootlegs them ALL DAY)

What a message Simon & Schuster has sent:

"We are such a bunch of fat cats, we ignore Ebay bootleggers. We have ALL the money. We just tossed $250,000 away on a greasy racist bastard!"

The first part? Nobody's checking for blatant bootlegging like THIS:

The second part?

Why in the world validate a jerk who was tossed off TWITTER?

You have to be pretty EXTREME to be banned by TWITTER. They allow all kinds of bullying and even pornography. There are WHORES on TWITTER and PORN STARS calling attention to themselves. Here's a surly, racist Breitbart bully who happily made a name for himself by targeting a black female comedian for abuse. Now he's rewarded for it.

Do you want to say that at one time the publishing world was above this kind of pandering and sleaze?

Go read Carly Simon's autobiography, and check the part where she talks about how her father, a founder in Simon & Schuster, was pushed out of his own company in a power play.

The insult added to the injury is that price tag. Consider that the average non-fiction writer, who may "as a labor of love," would be willing to do a year or two of research for a $2500 advance. Many have "day jobs," or lazy day jobs (college professor) and the advance would just cover some transportation costs and or treating an interview subject to a nice dinner, or paying an "honorarium" to somebody willing to allow for duplication of archive material.

That's 100 great non-fiction books...for the price of one piece of shit written by a piece of shit.

How EBAY steals from helpless Stephen Hawking

How many times has an eBAY seller deliberately posted Stephen Hawking bootlegs? And got CAUGHT? And re-listed ANYWAY?

Too often to count. But SOME of the auction numbers previously stopped were:

112228191447
112088100216
122066678463
122073178902
112114958276
112120519691
112226979329
112076323716

and two days ago:

122220996841
112200540435

In the REAL world, this kind of thievery doesn't happen. Walk out with a Hawking book and get caught, and the bookstore will not let you back in. You might even be held for the police. On eBay? You get a form e-mail and nothing else.

Ebay will say that they have a "policy" on sellers who break their own rules (eBay officially does NOT allow digital downloads on their site). A rule-breaker can get a warning, followed by a "restriction" (no selling for a day) another "restriction" (no selling for a week) another "restriction" (no selling for a month) and a temporary suspension (or two or three or four) and maybe a permanent suspension.

Meanwhile Stephen Hawking is losing royalties and a thief is profiting, and eBay gets a percentage, as does Paypal. I remind you: this is going on with authors far less affluent than Hawking, as well. Bootleggers on eBay are victimizing ALL kinds of authors, including ones who write textbooks or specialized books. Every sale lost hurts. It also has a ripple effect of hurting bookstores and hurting libraries.

Stealing from a helpless author confined to a wheelchair? Like taking candy from a baby.

The FACT is that while eBay actually has some rules, and there's an obscure "report this item" link on every auction, not ALL eBay auctions are considered equal.

A seller who is caught offering "wet, smelly used panties" will get a pretty quick suspension. But a seller who merely rips off copyright? In an Internet world where people laugh and say "copyright is COPY WRONG?" Not a big deal.

That's why THIS seller, for the TENTH time that I know about, and more likely it's TWENTY, has yet to even have a restriction.

Instead, the seller acts as if Hawking licensed this abuse. As if this is legitimate. As if buying this ISN'T buying a bootleg.

Ebay has the power to suspend a seller like this after three strikes. They don't because they also have the power to do as they please. It's the same power another Internet giant, Amazon has. You know them. They tell book publishers to go fuck themselves. They tell book publishers what books they will or won't carry. They tell book publishers how much to charge for a digital download.

Somehow, some people, maybe the Pollyanna pussies at the Author's Guild, think the Internet is good for authors. No, it's good for parasitic maggots who offer illegal downloads on eBay. UPDATE DECEMBER 27th: After many complaints to EBAY and to ASKEBAY (at Twitter), this seller is currently NOT offering the Hawking items. The complaints did not come from Hawking's agent or publisher. They came from an advocate for eBay integrity and an end to digital bootlegging on the site.

This recalls Groucho's line to Margaret Dumont: "I'm fighting for your honor, which is more than you ever did."

AMAZON KINDLE ALLOWS BOOTLEGGING ON EBAY

Arrogant Amazon has a tradition of being bastards with authors and publishers. Don't do it their way and they won't even carry your books.

KINDLE is the greatest boon to book piracy ever invented. Since it appeared, the book business has gone into collapse. Author advances have shrunk. Libraries have seen a marked decline in visitors.

Over on EBAY, they look the other way when it comes to book piracy. They will not remove obvious examples of piracy even when they are reported to eBay's "copyright" division. Here's an example.

This British prick posted and boasted in various auctions, that he could offer bidders ANYTHING they wanted (anything he could download from thieving forums).

Did you follow that caveat? That crap about GNU? About "freeware?" Just typical brat-speak. "Sharers" and "bootleggers" come up with all kinds of childish excuses for what they do. It's "for review" and "it's fair use" and "it's being offered collector to collector." Ad nauseam.

The Crypto-Nazi bastards of EBAY play the Sgt. Schultz game. You remember him from "Hogan's Heroes." He stood around saying, "I know nnnnnothing! I know nnnnnnothing!"

The Crypto-Nazi bastards of EBAY insist they have no idea if there's a GNU, or if the item is "freeware" or whatever else their sellers are saying. They won't ask, either. The logical thing to do would be to knock off the auction and demand the seller or the seller's attorney prove they have a licensing agreement to put EVERY BOOK ON THE PLANET on a DVD-R or CD-R.

Instead, the Crypto-Nazi bastards of EBAY shrug and say, "It's up to the authors to check our auctions and point out if something infringes. Because WE KNOW NNNNNOTHING."

OK. You'd think that Amazon would be interested in protecting their stranglehold. They'd want to make sure people only download from THEIR site, and that people don't get pirated copies on a DVD-R or CD-R.

This is Amazon's response to the above auction:

Incredible, isn't it? Amazon doesn't have some low-level intern-schmuck who can file a takedown on EBAY?

Amazon doesn't care if somebody is using the Kindle trademark and bootlegging Kindle books? Amazon would be well within their rights to shut this auction down.

They didn't. It was up to ONE VeRO rep representing ONE author to point out this was an infringing auction. Yes, ONE VeRO rep said to EBAY, "My author's books are being offered illegally here." Even Crypto-Nazis are not always unreasonable. This was a blatant inexcusable auction run by a self-entitled British brat. But Amazon did nothing, and you can go to EBAY and type in KINDLE and find plenty more bootleggers thriving on EBAY.

Sadly, there's too much piracy and not enough of it is being taken seriously. Fat cat Kindle and fat cat Amazon are joined by fat cat Penguin and fat cat Random House and fat cat Doubleday and other publishers who are too busy sucking their Starbucks lattes and taking 2 hour lunches to understand what's going on. These are the same people who sit around reading the Times and moan about climate change and how nobody listens. But are they listening? Hell, they should be shutting this crap down on principle alone. As in: "don't steal our books, how DARE you!"

What's that little word you see before you even start reading the actual book? Oh. Yes. The word COPYRIGHT.

Too bad some big fat cat companies don't take that word seriously.

Ebay, Paypal and the BOOTLEGGING of CHRISTINE FEEHAN

Being an author is, surprise, a full time job.

You need to WRITE. You need to use Twitter, Facebook and everything else to network with fans and the media.

You kind of expect your publisher to look out for such things as BOOTLEGS and PIRACY.

But most publishers don't care that much. They could do the minimum, and have an intern in the legal department check eBay, for example, and take the ONE MINUTE needed to report and remove violations.

Some obnoxiously snotty employees could direct their so-called piracy experts to stop auctions reported to them, and if the company charges a few dollars too much per stoppage, find somebody cheaper.

Meanwhile...how about this?

Three suspiciously identical bootleggers from SRI LANKA have all been preying on one particular author, Christine Feehan. ALL have the nerve to state in their ads that they "own copyright." ALL have the nerve to admit that they are offering "downloads" (in violation of eBay's "digital delivery" policy) and ALL pretend that they are located in New Mexico (because Sri Lanka bootleggers have a very smelly reputation on eBay at this point).

Hello, ANGEGMAS, KUSA.JANIT and PRIYA_SANJA:

Priya_Sanja, with several negatives, isn't bootlegging anyone at the moment, but is NOT SUSPENDED.

Last week, this was the typical "buy it now" (as the other two do) with the fake New Mexico location:

Aside from lying about their location, and offering e-mail or download items (eBay insists the items be sent by postal mail), the sellers also lie about a basic fact: OWNING COPYRIGHT.

Why is there so much bootlegging on eBAY?

First, few people know the items are illegal. A seller claims to "own copyright" or be the "authorized reseller," and some stooge in the legal department, or even a naive author, thinks, "oh, some kind of deal was made."

Second, EBAY does not consider it a high priority to remove "digital delivery" violation auctions. First off, they are "just a venue" and don't patrol the site. If a fan or an author reports the item, it's 50-50 whether an eBay employee will take action. An actual excuse is "we have millions of auctions, we sometimes have such high traffic with complaints and we don't have the staff." Aw. And you make a profit on every bootleg.

Sometimes fans will buy a bogus item, then file a complaint with eBay and Paypal for a refund, while leaving a negative on the seller. Enough negatives and complaints and the seller may cease, or get suspended.

The better way of handling the problem is the VERO (Verified Rights Owner) program. Authors should join (contact vero@ebay.com for more information), demand a publisher have a VeRO rep IN the office, or ask around and see if another author has a VeRO rep who might be willing to take on another client. Often VeRO reps do this, even at no charge, just to have more power in getting a seller suspended.

When an author might make only a dollar in royalties, why should somebody on EBAY make $15?

Ebay bootleggers help themselves but nobody else. Authors and publishers get nothing. Worse than that, the bidder gets so much cheap reading, there's no need to buy more. These sellers are offering the entire output of Christine Feehan. It could mean a reader has enough to last a year or more. If somebody takes out a free book from the library, at least the library bought that copy, and supports thousands upon thousands of authors. Bootleggers are just craven, selfish parasites.

"I AM HAPPY!" EBAY BIDDERS LOVE THEIR BOOTLEGGER AUTHOR-RAPISTS

How about a bootlegger who calls himself TREMBLE IN FEAR?

His bidders don't tremble. They giggle. They smirk. They dance around their Kindles squealing like kiddies.

"I AM HAPPY!"

DOZENS AND DOZENS OF TOP NAME AUTHORS ARE BEING BOOTLEGGED BY THIS GUY. YOU'D THINK ONE OF THEM WOULD'VE BLOWN THE WHISTLE BY NOW?

I'm talking about Stephen King, George R.R. Martin, Anthony Doerr, James Patterson, Paula Hawkins, Jane Mayer, Kristin Hannah, Veronica Roth, A.J. Rowling, Maya Banks...as well as well-known dead people such as J.D. Salinger, Dale Carnegie and Harper Lee. NOBODY checks eBay on their behalf? NOBODY?

"I AM HAPPY..." ...that they don't check, the gleeful BOOK FANS say:

Here's a small chunk of the 60 or so titles TREMBLE IN FEAR is happily duping and throwing around eBay for his cheap-shit $2 profit.

Two bucks each. Mr. Wonderful sends an e-mail with either a link to his Google cloud, or an attachment of a file, and he's made his money. The two bucks, by the way, could well be the royalty an author would've gotten on a legit sale. So let's not pretend two dollars means nothing. It can be ALL the royalty on a legit Kindle book and even a hardcover or trade paperback.

Mr. FEAR doesn't just indulge in necrophilia on Harper Lee, or stick his shovel into the zombie butt of a rich man like Stephen King. He'll steal from a less famous name, too.

Listen, the guy is ENTITLED. While eBay technically doesn't allow e-mail or "digital delivery" items, he boldly says that's exactly what he does. He even tells off any bidder who doesn't understand.

Isn't it time that Rowling and King and Patterson's people pay attention? If not for their own sake, than for their industry, their fellow authors, and for libraries that are supposed to be the lending alternative for poor people?

Isn't it also about time that eBay doesn't hide behind their "we're just a venue" line?

They also hide behind, "Oh dear, we have millions of new auctions every day, so if you report a seller, we just may not have the time or manpower to do anything. Report again. And again. And again. And if you call up, don't be surprised if a surly employee asks, "So, did YOU buy from this seller? Why are you reporting this seller?"

Supposedly book publishers have experts to handle piracy. It seems like they only pay these experts to look after the newest books for the shortest amount of time.

Ebay is such an easy place to police, and it's so simply to file a takedown (just submit the auction number via e-mail) publishers could have an intern do it for ONE HOUR a week. Instead, most publishers don't allow anyone to report piracy to their website, and pay no attention to complaints they read on Facebook or Twitter.

"I ain't namin' names," as Mr. Zevon once sang, but really, you Random Penguins, you ARE among the least competent of the lot.

March 27th Deadline: Get Yer Name in a MICHAEL CONNELLY BOOK

Here's a creative way of using EBAY.

A charity will get thousands of dollars on the winning bid for THIS:

The deal is that you'll get your name in Michael's new book. It'll probably be a minor character. But who knows, if your name is catchy enough, it might be used for a brand of gun, or a saloon or a brothel.

Good publicity for Michael, money going to a good cause.

Just go to eBAY.COM and type in "NAMING RIGHTS" Michael Connelly's New Novel"

AUCTION ENDS MARCH 27th!

A Rotten Serbia-Texas Guy Who Steals UK Cancer Money

Some wonder, "Gosh, why so concerned about little old EBAY bootleggers? It's the Internet. EVERYBODY steals!"

Mmm, yeah. Except eBay is supposed to be competing with Amazon as an HONEST website. And side from whatever royalties the book thieves are stealing away, and aside from the damage done to the publishing industry and to libraries (if you don't want to buy, go to a library), here's a fact:

The EBAY parasites are NASTY BASTARDS with no soul. Instead of getting a slap on the wrist, five aliases, and apathy from morons at Random House and Digimarc, they should be reported and removed ASAP.

Take THIS guy.

Among his items? Of course, a Random House hack (E.L. James), the "Wimpy Kid" series, and, oh, a fake charity demand. Yes, this guy's use of Internet technology involves grabbing an eBay ID and swindling people for $10 donations that supposedly go to a British cancer victim.

Only this guy is not in Great Britain is he? How about SERBIA. How about TEXAS?

But first, take a closer look at the "Cancer Victim" hoax:

First off, if eBay sellers want to raise money for charity, they have to pick an eBay-approved charity where the money definitely goes to the REGISTERED charity via Paypal. Ebay isn't GoFundMe. They don't want con-artists. Sellers are not allowed to simply claim "all the money goes to charity."

Note that the seller in this case claims he is in TEXAS.

Funny, he registered in SRI LANKA.

The percentage of parasites from Sri Lanka who steal books and sell PDF downloads on eBay is huge. Probably 50% are from Sri Lanka. Ebay shrugs.

This seller was reported about five days ago. Yes, the guy has no right to offer a fake charity auction. Yes, the guy also is playing the scam of "I own copyright" on the books he's copied. And yes, he should not be claiming to be in Texas if he's registered in Sri Lanka. But has this auction or ANY of his auctions been stopped? Mmmm, not yet. Ebay's wheels of justice grind a bit slow. When they grind at all.

For the record, the "Wimpy Kid" auction in which the guy claims, as they all do, that he "owns the copyright" to a famous book series.

This guy would've been suspended long ago if individual authors, like Mr. "Wimpy Kid" or the overfed E.L. James bothered to send in takedown requests at eBay.

Likewise, it would be helpful of rich fatcat book companies (who claim they have no money when they dole out advances to most anyone BUT Mr. "Wimpy Kid" and overfed E.L. James) kept an eye on eBay. Digimarc, supposedly experts at finding abuses, missed Random House/Penguin's "Grey" series from this guy. Then again, Random House has a very random policy on piracy.

Our hipster book-thief and charity con artist even tosses a photo of himself (or somebody he'd like you to think he is) on his EBAY PAGE, along with some tripe about how wonderful the world of technology is.

It would be helpful if authors and publishers, who pretend to be caring, intelligent and up on good causes, took a few minutes to simply file takedowns. Isn't PIRACY a good cause? Isn't keeping con artists from exploiting people with phony charity requests and dupe PDF files a good cause?

It would also help if "we're just a venue" eBay took fast action when complaints are reported to them.

Ebay No Read English Too Good

I reported an auction in which the eBay seller blatantly admitted he was offering an illegal item.

Ebay, bless 'em, actually has a rule against "digital downloads," or selling PDF-KINDLE-MOBI-MP3 files that can be stored on an Internet cloud/locker or squirted through cyberspace via e-mail.

THIS guy is doing just that.

I did NOT highlight the offending, illegal sentence in red. The seller did, because quite often eBay bidders THINK they're getting a real book at a bargain price, and want their money back when they discover it's just a file they have to read on their computer.

The problem in reporting this auction? Ebay sometimes doesn't speak English any better than the jerks in Sri Lanka, Macedonia, Romania, Venezuela or Florida who copy off each others' ads just as they go to the illegal forums and torrents and copy off the actual files.

The average person has a 50-50 chance of getting an abuse on their favorite author removed.

Ebay may or may NOT read the ad copy and understand it's a "digital delivery" violation. Or care.

That's why it's so important that James Dashner (and every author) and every publisher join VeRO and file takedowns. Ebay is the most high-profile site on the Internet for pirated goods. Most people have no idea how to find a free file on James Dashner's book series, but in coming to eBay to maybe get a used set cheap, they come across THIS type of ad, think it's legit, and buy it.

Dashner obviously isn't hurting, and if he's aware of the problem, then he hasn't the morality or intelligence to care about the problem. He's not willing to take one minute away from his Tweeting to file a takedown.

The more takedowns eBay gets, the quicker the pirates get suspended, and the less likely more bootlegs will appear. Pirates are like any thieves. They go for the open window, or the car with the key in the ignition. They think twice about a "Beware of the Dog" sign or an area that seems well protected and policed.

Ebay makes money by NOT removing a file like this, by accidentally NOT reading the ad. The pirate makes money. The publisher makes a little less and that means a rise in list price on next Fall's books, and less of an advance for most authors (other than Dashner and a few other privileged superstars).

It also means that there's less traffic to libraries. If someone can't afford Dashner's books they should go to a library, not to a bootlegger. A bootlegger doesn't have a building loaded with obscure volumes paid for in the name of scholarship. Libraries do; they buy plenty of Dashner's books AND enough of lower-selling authors so that these authors can at least get some kind of advance.

A Dashner fan, an intern at the book company...it doesn't have to cost a PENNY to send in takedowns. Ebay only needs to know they're hearing from an authorized rep who has a "good faith belief" and is acting at the request of the copyright owner. Why leave it up to eBay to "interpret" whether a non-English speaking bootlegger is sending a file legally or not?

THIS seller puts in a dopey caveat in the last line of the ad, but tells the real story in the first line. That's how much of a jerk he is. But he's jerking money off eBay every day and banking it. So he thinks he's pretty damn clever. Smarter than authors or publishers.

The Author's Guild and the Random House Portal of Doom

At the BEA convention, and other events, you can always count on some salesmen-saps from the "Author's Guild" or some other union to tell you how important it is to give them money.

Ask them WHY, and they mutter about low cost health insurance, which usually is no better than deals you can find elsewhere. Next? "Oh, we stand up for authors!" Yeah?

Like, you'll contact eBay and get pirates removed on behalf of your members?

Well, no.

Some time ago, the Author's Guild website happily reported on a random notion from Random House and their Penguins: they'll ALLOW their authors to report piracy when they see it. On their own books only. Meaning, if E.L. James sees an eBay pirate abusing George R.R. Martin, her complaint to Digimarc (Random's idea of an enforcer) will likely be ignored or obfuscated with "thank you, we took appropriate action" which was nothing at all.

If you're an author and you somehow have Googled yourself and discovered the wide world of "forums" that let members upload PDF/MOBI/KINDLE files, you can report the problem yourself. You contact the "cloud server" that hosts the file, and let 'em know you're the copyright owner, and to take down the abuse.

They will. Or they won't. It depends on what country the "cloud server" is in. Fact is, Digimarc can do no better for you. If your file is at Kickass or Pirate Bay or some other well known abusers, they get ignored.

So much for the great "authors only" portal, which looks like this:

As this site has proven time and time again, the publishers and their sheriffs aren't doing that good of a job when it comes to EBAY. All they need to do is type in some hot author names and book titles, and add "ebook" or PDF and they'll spot the latest parasites from Sri Lanka, Macedonia, Romania or FLORIDA.

They don't.

Is there any day that you CAN'T type in "Game of Thrones" and add "e book" or "MOBI" and see a bunch of bootlegs being sold? It's not that there are too many moles to be whacked. It's that nobody's looking, and the message is, "Hey, we're so rich, we don't care." Which is interesting news to any mid-list author trying to get an extra five hundred bucks advance or an extra five copies on their contract.

Random's proud of what they claim they do for authors:

Why don't they let the general public report piracy on their website, as many other publishers do? Why don't they even allow a Random House author to report piracy on behalf of another author? And what IS the "Author's Guild" and other nitwit anemic groups doing about this problem on eBay?

The late Joseph Heller would find all of this to be quite ludicrous. So would a lot of other beloved authors who spent their lives pointing out idiocy, apathy and foolishness. The Catch-22 here is beyond laughable: publishers NOT welcoming piracy reports, NOT allowing authors to file them on behalf of other authors, and NOT taking the easiest steps to virtually eradicate piracy on eBay.

Lawrence Block wrote his books before he was born?

When it comes to eBay bootlegging, you can stretch the truth. You can stomp it flat. Ebay won't blink.

Here WAS a seller who was telling the most blatant and outrageous lies. Dozens upon dozens of authors, who are alive and 40 or 50 years old...were actually born before 1923 and wrote their books before 1923.

File that under "that's my story and I'm sticking to it." And eBay? They aid and abet anyone who brings in money.

The seller had a dozen CD-R and DVD-R collections of everybody's copyrighted books. Like so:

Who discovered it? ONE VeRO rep for ONE author. And no, that VeRO rep wasn't anyone from Digimarc or any of the other flashy and boastful agencies that claim they find, through technology or wizardry or a oujia board, any and all copyright violations.

Were it not for that ONE VeRO rep, this seller's junk would still be on eBay, hundreds of authors would be cheated, and a few more libraries would be dealing with letters demanding they cut back hours.

How insane is that? And here's the finish:

It would be nice if eBay wasn't like the Nazi Sgt. Schultz of "Hogan's Heroes" and blubbering "I see nothing, I know nothing" in the face of outrageous injustice. But at least they'll listen to a copyright rep if one spots something that needs to be stopped.

Too bad there are complacent, apathetic authors and publishers out there, who don't find "I own copyright" offensive, or don't see piracy as dangerous and unacceptable.

The other day I was taking a look at a typical thieving-den forum. The ADMIN announced, "Please do NOT upload anything from Disney. We want to be under the radar. We don't need the aggravation."

Wouldn't it be nice if all companies had the reputation Disney has? That a lesson Disney continues to teach is to RESPECT copyright OR ELSE?

The average person doesn't know about torrents and doesn't spend a lot of time in sneaky forums. That person probably has never even downloaded off Pirate Bay, which gleefully still thumbs their noses at copyright owners and takedown requests. People DO spent their time on eBay. They go there to buy a book at a cheaper price than Amazon, and they see somebody offering REAL cheap bootlegs with impunity. And so they buy.

And if a best selling author and a huge publisher aren't hurt too much by it, not enough to take "appropriate action," a Mom and Pop bookstore is hurt. A library is hurt. And there's a little less caring, sensitivity and morality in the world, and another triumph for greed and stupidity.

Book publishing is supposedly run by people a little more intelligent and less drug-addled than the music industry? Sometimes, especially if you check what they allow on eBay, you wonder what brainless pill-heads are on control of the literary world, and what utter bubble-wrapped impotent fools are at the NY Times Review of Books Tweeting memes all day while books burn. I mean it literally. Books are burning in landfills because it's so easy to get your fill of electronic bootlegs.

Happy New Year for Scholastic R.L. Stine Bootlegging. Heil Goosestepping over Goosebumps

Amazing. 2016, and some publishers are sending the message: "We are SO rich, we are SO busy with our $200 power lunches and standing in line at Starbucks, we won't even have an unpaid intern spend 2 minutes a week keeping our best sellers safe."

Today, FOUR different book-Nazis are stealing Stine's books. It would literally take 2 minutes to stop this farce.

An educational book company? Scholastic? WHAT are you telling the children? That it's OK to steal?

Aren't the self-entitled Millennials seeing enough of that when they sneak over to the torrents and Internet forums and see copyrighted material thrown all over YouTube?

THIS helps?

I mentioned this situation in a few previous posts. It's gotten worse. Instead of two parasites, there are now four.

The price for the Goosebumps set drops every week, while bidders cheer, "Thanks, what a bargain! My kids love this stuff!"

The problem is not whether Stine, Scholastic or his "Parachute Press" are losing a few hundred dollars a week. It's that people are losing respect for copyright, and that other authors and publishers are suffering too. The more people steal, the less they buy. The more people can get from eBay bootleggers, the less reason they have for browsing a bookstore or a library.

Frankly, I'd like to think that authors and publishers are not as stupid as the rock industry, and that instead of seeing record stores go under like the music biz did, the authors and publishers will fight to preserve the bookstores that are left, and the libraries that buy and support all authors, not just best-selling short-sighted twits.

GOOSEBUMPS, ST. JUDE "CHARITY," Scholastic and R.L. Stine Apathy

Remember school and Scholastic books? I don't recall, at a book sale, teachers saying, "Children, if you sneak a few books without paying, it's ok."

I don't recall authors coming to class and saying, "Jeez, I make SO much money, if you walk out without paying, it's ok with me."

Here's an eBay seller (and eBay is, along with Amazon, one of the biggest sales sites on the Internet, very high profile) who is stealing a Scholastic book. But more than that. This seller is claiming to own copyright. AND, this seller from Hoboken is a "Robin Hood" who robs from R.L. Stine and Scholastic and...gives 10% to St. Jude's Hospital.

Where's the 90% go? Oh, of course, to the person who claims to have written the "Goosebumps" series and controls copyright and re-sale rights. Some jerk in Hoboken.

Does Scholastic know? Does R.L. Stine know? Yes and yes.

Would they care to stop this? No, and no.

Would they authorize ME to tell EBAY that this seller actually does NOT own copyright and that the auction should be ended? No, and No.

I don't charge to do what amounts to less than a minute's work. The answer is still NO. Go figure why not. Apathy? Stupidity? No idea what a dangerous thing it is for people to get low-price pirated editions and not support the publishing industry?

How do you like that lovely CHARITY banner?

Ebay encourages sellers to donate some of their profits to a favorite charity. Conveniently, neither eBay or the charity know or care whether the item is a bootleg or not.

Ebay bidders think that this jerk in Hoboken is the real deal. And charitable, too. Gosh, a whole 10% to St. Jude. Marlo Thomas should drive to Hoboken and pin a medal on this clown.

Bootlegging is quite a profitable hobby when it comes to stealing from R.L. Stine and some others who have plenty of time for Twitter and Facebook. There are authors who will tell you what they had for breakfast, and what TV show they're watching at the moment. They don't have a minute to stop someone on eBay who is saying "I own copyright" to their work.

All this seller does is e-mail pdf files. Or give out a password to a cloud download. "I do a few of those, and I can have myself a fine, fine dinner at my favorite restaurant, me and my partner, courtesy of R.L. Stine and Scholastic. Yum Yum!"

It beats clipping coupons.

I certainly don't want to offend Scholastic or Stine by calling them apathetic, short-sighted or ridiculous.

I also don't want to offend any Muslim terrorists out there by using a Yiddish word, but here goes: CHUTZPAH.

It takes a lot of CHUTZPAH for a seller to boldly state, under possible penalty of perjury, an outright LIE.

No, you do NOT own Stine's copyright. You don't own Scholastic's copyright. You are, in essence, raping whores. You are victimizing people who don't have the self-respect to complain.

Read the caveat that EBAY will not question:

Ebay is using a worn-out legal loophole called the DMCA, to aid and abet piracy and to profit from it. Using the loophole, eBay can say, "We're JUST a venue. We have no idea if the seller is telling the truth about owning copyright, and WE WON'T ASK FOR PROOF. All we'll do is act on an e-mail or fax complaint from the copyright or intellectual property rights holder. It's their responsibility to contact us. If they don't, well, less money for them, more for us."

Scholastic and Stine could stop this nonsense. At least become two more people on a bootleggers' "don't mess with" list. So far, they aren't interested.

I guess if they saw schoolkids stealing at a school book sale, they wouldn't want to get involved either. They'd say "kids will be kids."

But the eBay seller in Hoboken is no kid.