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.