Feds hint at charges for WikiLeaks' Assange | Privacy Inc. - CNET News

Feds hint at charges for WikiLeaks' Assange | Privacy Inc. - CNET News

Bathetic as it may be, I wonder whether or not the Feds will include copyright infringement among their list of charges against the WikiLeaks founder. It might stick, and the maximum penalty for knowing, repeated copyright infringement is five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for each work.




Works are usually books, or songs, or movies, or games.

Usually, for full copyright protection, the "work" has to be registered with the Library Of Congress. Are state secrets entered into the loc.gov?

Can one argue that government employees' reports are "works"? Were they "works for hire" and does that make a difference? I don't know. Everything one writes is said to be instantly copyrighted to the author.

Copyright infringement is the unauthorized copying and publishing of works without the permission of the copyright owner... usually the author.

It seems to me, that the WikiLeaks problem may make passage of COICA (s~3804) much more likely.

How Piracy Hurts.

(guest post by Deborah MacGillivray)

Does piracy of books hurt?  It destroys lives.

I knew a lovely lady.  She became one of my closest friends. Our friendship was formed on the internet.  Likely, we would have never known each other without that magic connection.  But that link, while bringing the world to your home, also offers you a mask.  Dawn hid herself from the world.  Few knew Dawn Thompson was a paraplegic.  She could stand, take a step or two, but otherwise, she was trapped in a wheelchair, day in, day out, for the last years of her life.

It was always Dawn’s dream to be an author.  The power, the gift of storytelling was in her heart, in her soul.  Dawn would have written even if she never was published because the magic was a part of her.  Just as she was about to make it in publishing, she was nearly killed in a car accident.  It left her with legs that no longer served her, and hands that had not been properly cared for during hospitalization, thus were curled back, useless.  She only had use of her index fingers and her thumbs.  But oh did she make use of those remaining digits!  Dawn wrote dozens of books, most were published by Kensington Books and Dorchester Publishing.

While it was her dream to be published, it also was her necessity to sell her novels.  It was one of the few ways left to her where she could raise money to support herself.  She was left with a very small disability check, not enough to allow her to survive.  She needed that money that would come from her books.  In 2007, Dawn was on the verge of being a bestselling author, and her plans were not to buy a second home in Florida or Hawaii, nor buy that yacht we laughingly hear so much about.  Dawn’s plans were to have a roof over her head, an apartment in a reasonably safe neighborhood, food for her and for her cat and medicine, the basics that many of us―most of us―take for granted.  In the final years of her life, she expanded that drive to want to protect her sister.  Her younger sister Candy is also disabled.  Dawn thought she could write, sell lots of books and she, the cat and Candy would get by.  Nothing fancy, just to be safe, have medicines and decent meals.

 

My heart broke when I called Dawn one day and she was crying.  I finally got the story out of her―what the proud Dawn was trying to hide―just how dire her situation was.  She barely had money for food, a condition that had been going on for months.  She knew if she could make it until the end of the year, the royalties from her books would actually be giving her the means to survive.  She was crying because she was rationing her tea.  Tea was a luxury she couldn’t afford, so she allowed herself ONE teabag each Sunday as a treat for herself.  Dawn had a helper supplied by the government that came in for a couple hours five days a week.  And the aid just went into the kitchen, helped herself to the last tea bag.  Dawn wouldn’t have her tea on Sunday.  I sat and cried.  One teabag per week?  How sad was that?

Dawn was so close to making it, but because of the lack of good food she grew weak, and after a long day of work finishing a book, she collapsed as she tried to move from the wheelchair to the bed.  As she battled for her life in hospital, she took steps to protect her sister.  She gave Candy several of her remaining unpublished books outright, and assigned the rights and royalties of the ones already published to Candy.  If the worst came, she wanted Candy taken care of.

The worst did come.  We lost Dawn in February 2008, but she died with the belief Candy wouldn’t face the horrible circumstances of choosing between medicine and food, that her pain and hard work would provide the means to take care of her sister. Only Candy is not secure.  Her fate is very dire, as bad as what faced Dawn.  Maybe worse.

Sad, you say, but how does this relate to piracy?

Simple.  Dawn wrote for two publishers, but the one that has control of most of her books is Dorchester Publishing.  Recently, they informed the public they were restructuring their business, dropping the mass market line, and moving to only e-book and trade size.  

Why?  Because they are not selling mass market paperbacks on a level to stay in the black.  Why should people pay for books, when they can get on the net and enter a name of a book or author and find dozens, hundreds of places where they can download books free.  Illegally.  

People are giving away books, or even more heinous, selling them.  They are making money off the hard work of others. When I put in Dawn’s name in a search engine, I shall find her books listed on so many pirate sites it’s sickening.  One place selling one of her books illegally had over 4800 downloads.  Just ONE book on ONE site. Yes, all those downloading the book might not have ever bought it.  But many probably would have.  People who professed to love her books would have bought her next book, and her next.  Now, why should they pay, when it’s minutes to locate a novel, second to download?  To steal it.

These criminals ―yes, THAT is what they are ―make money off Dawn’s works.  They are stealing. Dawn used to arise at 7am and would work all day and night and finally struggle into bed around 1am.  SEVEN days a week.  The whole time she was in agony from metal rods and pins in her body, along with sitting in a wheel chair eighteen hours a day.  Those thieves are making money off her agony.  The money venues/handlers such as PayPal are making money off Dawn’s pain. 

And now they are stealing from Dawn’s sister.  They say they aren’t hurting anyone, justifying their criminal activities, because each book is only the “price of a cup of coffee.”  But multiply that by two dozen books, multiply that by thousands of downloads, multiply that by dozens, maybe hundreds, even thousands of sites stealing from Dawn’s sister. Suddenly, you are talking about a lot of money.  Candy is on very limited means.  She gets disability, but is too young for Medicare so she has no medical treatments for dangerously high blood pressure and arthritis.  She cannot drive, cannot walk but a few steps with a walker.  Currently, she is rooming in a place, and the situation is dangerous to her health.  Every penny matters to her simply surviving.

So the next time someone says they can get a book offline cheap, and they aren’t hurting an author because, after all, they all live in big, fancy homes and have a yacht, think again.  You are stealing food from people, medical care, a decent place to live.  You are stealing people’s hard work.  The next time you search out your favorite author on a torrent, before you push that button know you are stealing from people’s children, and you hurt people’s ability to support themselves.  Ask yourself, if you would work at your job when people refused to pay you and yet expected you to perform anyway?  Could you survive in a job where you might not get money for months, years?

You are stealing.  Plain and simple. There is no justification for that.  You are hurting people, and none of the blithe rationalizations can whitewash that bald fact.

by Deborah MacGillivray

 *********************************

If Deborah MacGillivray's story of what piracy has done and is doing to one author and her sister moves you, please do something.

Tweet this.

Share it.

Leave a comment (a kind one, please)

Forward it to your Senator or Representative with reference to the COICA discussions.

If you read Dawn's works under the mistaken impression that they were "freely available" and now

wish you knew how to send a donation directly (a sentiment many readers express) please send
a $1.00 donation to writer@deborahmacgillivray.co.uk 

(Deborah is the unpaid agent of the late Dawn Thompson.)

This is not a scam. This is not a trick. If you send a donation, your privacy will be honored.
Please describe the donation as a personal gift, or PayPal will take over $0.40 of it.

Thank you for your concern.

Rowena Cherry

INTERNET PIRACY IS BIG BUSINESS

Internet pirates are not happy with President Obama (an author) and Vice President Biden (a well known passionate defender of copyright). Today, I received this (from EFF):

Dear Friend of Digital Freedom,

The U.S. government has made two proposals this week that threaten online speech and privacy in radical new ways. Either one, if passed by Congress, will fundamentally rewrite the rules of the Internet. EFF is fighting hard for your rights and needs your help.

These proposals are the most frightening we've seen in a long time. The first is a bill called the "Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act," which would give the Justice Department new powers to censor websites accused of aiding "piracy." The second is an Obama Administration proposal that would end online privacy as we know it by requiring all Internet communication service providers -- from Facebook to Skype to your webmail provider -- to rebuild their systems to give the government backdoor access to all of your private Internet communications.

EFF is battling these threats to Internet users' privacy and freedom of speech, and we need your support. More than half of EFF's funding comes from individuals like you, and none of our funding comes from government grants. That means that when EFF goes toe-to-toe against government attempts to snatch away your rights, we pull no punches in defending the civil liberties of all technology users and innovators.

Become an EFF member today, and join the ongoing fight for privacy, free expression, and civil liberties on the Internet, as we face down these threats and secure a better future for us all.

On the other hand... (say I)

PayPal makes 0.40c every time some "sharing" Yahoo group manager sells a $2.00 link to authors' in-print, in-copyright books. Why is this allowed? Why are there SEVENTEEN "Bookmix" collections of dozens of copyrighted books, some of which include four recent works by the same author?

I could understand that sharing one book by an author might be good promo, but not an entire series. Does EFF not understand what they are helping to do?

Is it right that YAHOO and PAYPAL have no responsibility for the actions their business model supports and apparently encourages?

Is it right and fair that Club Freebie can charge "a convenience fee" of $2.00 and profit from copyright infringement by pirates? Is it right that Club Freebie can legally hide behind this wording:

"Please note that we are not the 'hosts' of these books, neither did we upload them to any hosting provider. We simply find links to books, that were freely available on the web and share our findings with our members."

'FREELY AVAILABLE'? I wonder whether the publishers agree that these books are "freely available".
"Freely available" is a bland euphemism for allegedly stolen property that could very well be infected with viruses, malware etc.

Nevertheless, they are charging $2.00 to sell links to "freely available" e-books that --it is reasonable to guess-- effing pirates have uploaded to the internet.

This isn't just a single book for promo... this is multiple works. So, if this is LEGAL, the law has to change. The alternative is for the general public to side with authors, and turn in pirates, and generally let it be known that "sharing" is not right or fair.

Here's a copyright alliance petition

Dear Copyright Advocates,

As promised, we seek to keep you updated with news from Capitol Hill that affects your rights as an artist or creator. Read on to find out more about a new bill that is targeting rogue pirate sites. And take this opportunity to make your voice heard!

On Thursday, September 30th, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on legislation that will target web sites that profit from infringing music, movies, books, images, software, and other creative works. These websites don't give a dime to artists. The legislation is called "Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act" or S-3804. It is sponsored by 16 Democratic and Republican senators and its chief sponsor is Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT).

Our online world is now polluted with professional, legitimate-seeming sites that offer a wide array of artistic works for free and are supported by ads sold on the sites. Sometimes these sites even charge subscription fees for access to creative works. NOT A DIME OF THAT MONEY ever reaches the artists who create the work, such as an independent filmmaker we blogged about recently or another independent filmmaker profiled today in The Los Angeles Times. These sites profit from theft, pure and simple.

The legislation would encourage online ad brokers, online payment processors (such as credit card companies) and ISPs to cut off the income flow that feeds this piracy. As comic book author and illustrator Colleen Doran said in her Creators Across America video, "These sites wouldn't be around if not for the dough."

A growing number of artists are banding together to support this legislation. Colleen has used her blog to promote the legislation (here and here). In addition, a coalition of artists has put together an online petition you can use to let your elected representatives know how important it is to keep rogue web sites from profiting from your work. As the petition notes: "The theft of copyrighted works like photography, music, movies, books, software and games is a devastating problem... This rampant theft inhibits the ability of American businesses to invest and innovate -- and stifles the capacity of American artists and creators to earn a living, support their families, and invest in their own creative development."

You might also want to let Senator Leahy know you appreciate the hard work he and his colleagues are doing on behalf of artists.

We'll keep all of you informed as this legislative effort continues.

Best,

Lucinda Dugger

Director of Outreach

Yahoo Needs A "Report This Group" Button

"Yahoo respects the intellectual property of others...."

They just don't make it easy for good citizens to alert them to Yahoogroups that massively infringe on copyright. (They require the author to complain herself). They ought to be more proactive and allow readers to be proactive.

There ought to be a "Report This" button in every Footer.

In fact, copyright infringement is such a problem that every auction site, social networking site, blogsite etc ought to be required by law to post this from the Copyright Office:

"Is it legal to download works from peer-to-peer networks and if not, what is the penalty for doing so?


Uploading or downloading works protected by copyright without the authority of the copyright owner is an infringement of the copyright owner's exclusive rights of reproduction and/or distribution. Anyone found to have infringed a copyrighted work may be liable for statutory damages up to $30,000 for each work infringed and, if willful infringement is proven by the copyright owner, that amount may be increased up to $150,000 for each work infringed. In addition, an infringer of a work may also be liable for the attorney's fees incurred by the copyright owner to enforce his or her rights."

Source

http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-digital.html#p2p

As the Indian copyright office says,

"There is an acute lack of awareness on various issues relating to copyright and related rights amongst stakeholders, enforcement agencies, professional users like the scientific and academic communities and members of the public…"

Maharaj Krishen Kaw, Secretary to Government of India,

You can read more here:

http://www.education.nic.in/copyright.asp

Yahoo has a group called "Free Book Club". Gee, you'd think Yahoo could have some kind of filter if they wanted to do so. They do have the technology to prevent a would-be member from registering an obscene or trademark infringing screen name.

To establish that Yahoo does have the technology, I performed an experiment. I tried to register my name as something very scurrilous, resulting in a short sentence with Yahoo as the object of my suggestion.

Yahoo would not allow that. I experimented. Yahoo has the technology to prevent "Yahoo" being used as part of anyone's id and password. They also do not allow the F-word. Amusingly, they do suggest longer synonyms.

Point made. If Yahoo wanted to prevent EBook groups, or Free Book groups, it could do so.

Back to the "freebookclub" yahoo group which has 1109 Members (all of whom, presumably have been offered 480 illegally posted ebooks... and more!), has been in operation since September 2009, and at which the owner has posted approximately 70 notices of giveaways.

You did notice this, didn't you?

Uploading or downloading works protected by copyright without the authority of the copyright owner is an infringement of the copyright owner's exclusive rights of reproduction and/or distribution. Anyone found to have infringed a copyrighted work may be liable for statutory damages up to $30,000 for each work infringed and, if willful infringement is proven by the copyright owner, that amount may be increased up to $150,000 for each work infringed. In addition, an infringer of a work may also be liable for the attorney's fees incurred by the copyright owner to enforce his or her rights."

I've just reminded you of the law. Therefore, if you visit this Yahoo Group and download anything (after having been told that it is illegal, you could, if caught (and Yahoo has your real email address etc and this site posts your photographs!!!) be theoretically liable for a fine of $150,000 per download.

There is a free member bonus that includes 480 ebooks, and invites you to share this page and offer with everyone you know on Twitter, Facebook, everyone on your email list. These books include 17 Jennifer Crusie books,  14 Karen Hawkins books, 27 J D Robb books, 84 Nora Roberts books, 53 Jude Devereaux books.

Readers, please note, if downloaders are caught, and prosecuted, they could be fined $30,000 per book. If I supply a link, it is so that authors, agents, publishers reading this blog may accumulate evidence and send Yahoo and Freebiesave and Freebookclub.biz a cease and desist notice.

As if 480 books as a joining bonus was not bad enough, batches of 200 books are offered at intervals

http://www.freebookclub.biz/fiction4.html

There's much more, it is a symptom of the problem that the publishing industry faces, which is exacerbated by corporate ad executives who either don't know or don't care what demographic they cater to. Advertising to people who steal stuff might not be advertising dollars well spent

OK, authors, agents, publishers. Here's what you have to do. Talk to each other!  CC each other when you email Yahoo here  copyright@yahoo-inc.com  so you have proof that Yahoo has been advised of repeated and serious infringement by http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freebookclub/

Check out the links supplied by this Yahoogroup.

http://www.freebookclub.biz/members-bonus.html

Free Kids Books!
http://www.freebookclub.biz/kids.html


Over 200 More Free Fiction Books
http://www.freebookclub.biz/fiction5.html


45 Free Books on Health & Fitness (part 1)
http://www.freebookclub.biz/health-etc.html

Extrapolate that there was a fiction1, fiction2, fiction3 ....

Follow this:

***

YAHOO'S

copyrightandintellectualproperty

Yahoo! respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. Yahoo! has no responsibility for content on other websites that you may find or access when using Yahoo!’s products or services. Material available on or through other websites may be protected by copyright and the intellectual property laws of the United States and/or other countries. The terms of use of those websites, and not the Yahoo! Terms of Service, govern your use of that material.

It is Yahoo!’s policy, in appropriate circumstances and at its discretion, to disable and/or terminate the accounts of users who may infringe or repeatedly infringe the copyrights or other intellectual property rights of Yahoo! and/or others.

Notice for Claims of Intellectual Property Violations and Agent for Notice

THIS PROCESS IS FOR COPYRIGHT AND OTHER INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MATTERS ONLY. Correspondence regarding other matters will not be responded to. For reports of abuse and related concerns, please see the links in the left navigation.

If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, or that your intellectual property rights have been otherwise violated, please provide Yahoo!'s Agent for Notice with the following information (your "Notice"):

1. an electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright or other intellectual property interest;

2. a description of the copyrighted work or other intellectual property that you claim has been infringed;

3. a description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the Yahoo! site, with enough detail that we may find it on the website (in most circumstances, we will need a URL);

4. your address, telephone number, and email address;

5. a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright or intellectual property owner, its agent, or the law;

6. a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your Notice is accurate and that you are the copyright or intellectual property owner or authorized to act on the copyright or intellectual property owner's behalf.

In some circumstances, in order to notify the subscriber, account holder or host who provided the allegedly infringing content to which Yahoo! has disabled access, Yahoo! may forward a copy of a valid Notice including name and email address to the subscriber or account holder, or may forward a copy of a valid Notice (with personally identifiable information removed) to Chilling Effects (http://www.chillingeffects.org) for publication.

Yahoo!'s Agent for Notice of claims of copyright or other intellectual property infringement can be reached as follows:

By mail

Copyright Agent

c/o Yahoo! Inc.

701 First Avenue

Sunnyvale, CA 94089

By phone

(408) 349-5080

By fax

(408) 349-7821

By email

copyright@yahoo-inc.com

Please note that, due to security concerns, attachments cannot be accepted. Accordingly, any notification of infringement submitted electronically with an attachment will not be received or processed.

***

Rowena Cherry

ecrater Yet another site where ebook pirates sell stolen property

I wonder whether the IRS audits sites like EBay and eCRATER to check that vendors are properly reporting and paying taxes on what they sell?

My guess is, people who make illegal copies (all copies of ebooks are illegal) of books and sell them do not pay taxes on their income. However, they all have PayPal accounts. An audit ought to be relatively easy. Are ill-gotten gains taxable?

They ought to be. At 100%.

I'm sure that most of the 5892 ebooks currently being offered on eCRATER are there legally, because eCRATER complies with the DMCA.


http://www.ecrater.com/category.php?cid=37241

I should think it is highly likely that Kenyon, Evanovich, Hamilton, Nora Roberts, Feehan, Jeffries, Jaid Black, Gena Showalter, Keri Arthur, Jack Higgins et alia are all spending their spare time selling their own books on auction sites, one ebook or collection at a time, and undercutting their own publishers' prices. Not.

ECrater complies with DMCA.

Here's how authors can go about stopping any illegal sales of their own work.

****************************quoted*************************************************
    
It is eCRATER's policy to (1) block access to or remove material that it believes in good faith to be copyrighted material that has been illegally posted by our sellers (2) remove and discontinue service to repeat offenders.

I. How to report Copyright Infringements

If you believe that material or content residing on or accessible through the eCRATER web site or service infringes a copyright, please send a notice of copyright infringement containing the following information to the Designated Agent listed below:

1. Identification in sufficient detail the copyrighted work that you believe has been infringed.

2. Identification of the material that you claim is infringing the copyrighted work including information regarding the URL of the infringing materials that the copyright owner seeks to have removed.

3. Contact information about the notifier including address, phone number and email if available.

4. The following statement: "I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials described above on the allegedly infringing web pages is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law."

5. The following statement: "I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner to make this complaint."

6. A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright that has been allegedly infringed

II. How does eCRATER act when receives DMCA notification

Once proper bonafide infringement notification is received by the Designated Agent, it is eCRATER's policy:

1. To remove or disable access to the infringing material

2. To notify the seller that it has removed or disabled access to the material

3. That repeat offenders will have their infringing material removed from the system and that eCRATER will terminate such sellers' access to the service.

III. How to file a counter notification letter

If the seller believes that the material that was removed or to which access was disabled is either not infringing, or the seller believes that it has the right to post and use such material from the copyright owner, the copyright owner's agent, or pursuant to the law, the seller must send a counter notification pursuant to sections 512(g)(2) and (3) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to the Designated Agent listed below containing the following information:

1. Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the URL at which the material appeared before it was removed or disabled

2. A statement that the seller has a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or a misidentification of the material

3. Seller's name, address, phone number and email if availbale, and a statement that the seller consent to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which seller's address is located (or Orange County, California if seller's address is outside of the United States), and that the seller will accept service of process from the person who provided notification of the alleged infringement.

4. The following statement: "I swear, under penalty of perjury, that I have a good faith belief that each search result or message identified above was removed or disabled as a result of a mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled."

5. A physical or electronic signature of the seller

Please see a sample counter notification letter.

If a counter-notice is received by the Designated Agent, eCRATER may send a copy of the counter-notice to the original complaining party informing that person that it may replace the removed material or cease disabling it in 10 business days. Unless the copyright owner files an action seeking a court order against the seller, the removed material may be replaced or access to it restored in 10 to 14 business days or more after receipt of the counter-notice, at eCRATER's discretion.

Designated Agent to Receive Notification of Claimed Infringement:

Dimitar Slavov
eCRATER.com
1340 Spectrum
Irvine, CA 92618
email: dmca (at) ecrater.com

Please note that you will be liable for damages (including costs and attorneys' fees) if you materially misrepresent that a product or activity is infringing your copyrights. In a recent case, a company that sent an infringement notification seeking removal of online materials that were protected by the fair use doctrine was ordered to pay such costs and attorneys' fees. The company agreed to pay over $100,000. Accordingly, if you're not sure whether material available online infringes your copyright, we suggest that you first contact an attorney.

Note: If you have a question about a particular product or order that you placed, please contact the merchant directly by using the "Ask seller a question" link which can be found on every product page. eCRATER is a marketplace consisted of many merchants and we do not sell anything.

***********************end of quote*****************************************

This is fairly standard.

I'm copying it so the public can see exactly what hurdles authors and their agent have to leap in order to stop theft, and also the potential expenses they may face.

Please note, there is no mention of restitution. The best outcome for an author is that she discovers the theft before many illegal copies are sold, and eCRATER removes the auction before very many more copies are sold.

The worst that can happen to the thief is that they don't manage to sell any illegal copies at all before their listing is taken down, and just possibly, if they are caught often enough, they may have to sign up all over again under a different identity (or go back to EBay, or Blujay or one of the other auction sites that are now springing up).

Space Snark comments on EFF Files Comments on Net Neutrality

As a copyright owner, I have a problem with this argument

"We know from bitter experience that dragnet copyright enforcement efforts often end up inflicting collateral damage on lawful activities," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Fred von Lohmann. "Neutrality regulations should not excuse ISPs that discriminate against or block innocent content just because they claim it was done to protect copyrights or cater to law enforcement."

Source:

EFF Files Comments on Net Neutrality | Electronic Frontier Foundation

The problem is the definition of "lawful" and "innocent". Too many Internet users, especially "EBayers" don't know what "lawful" and "innocent" mean. They don't seem to grasp the first principle of what an ebook is, or what copyright notices in the fronts of books say or mean.

For those who have never noticed, here's a selection:

St. Martin's Press copyright notices.  

"No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles or reviews. For information address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10010."


Harlequin:
"All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying or recording or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises limited..."

Dorchester Publishing:
"All rights reserved. No part of this book in whole may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law."

Resplendence:

Warning: All rights reserved. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringe-ment without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.


Here's Total-e-Bound's...
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Total-E-Bound Publishing.

LooseId
All rights reserved. This copy is intended for the purchaser of this e-book ONLY. No part of this e-book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without prior written permission from Loose Id LLC. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

LL Publications/Logical-Lust Publications

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied, transmitted, or recorded by any means whatsoever, including printing, photocopying, file transfer, or any form of data storage, mechanical or electronic, without the express written consent of the publisher. In addition, no part of this publication may be lent, re-sold, hired, or otherwise circulated or distributed, in any form whatsoever, without the express written consent of the publisher.

Phaze
All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

Mundania
All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal, and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.


Under The Moon... 
Excluding legitimate review sites and review publications, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

Copying, scanning, uploading, selling and distribution of this book via the Internet or any other means without permission from the publisher is illegal, punishable by law and will be prosecuted.
--

What all these publishers are saying is "You do not have the right to make a copy of this book!" and also "You do not have the right to 'share' or sell COPIES that you have made of this book."

Too many people think that if they scan a paperback or hardback novel, or cut and paste an ebook,  and put it on a CD they have somehow created something new and original that is theirs to do with as they please.

Well no. It's still the same copyrighted story that took a hardworking author months or even years to imagine, research, write, hone, polish and promote.

Taking a bunch of favorite novels, copying them all, putting them all onto a CD and calling them "My Private EBook Collection" does not make them "yours". The authors still own the copyright. You cannot burn ten or more copies of this "Private Collection" and sell them on EBay or iOffer or Facebook or Blogger or Wordpress or any other virtual bookstore.

Nor are you free (legally) to upload them to pirate sites.

Bottom line. If you didn't write every word of it yourself, from your own imagination, then it is not yours.

An author has the right to make copies or to give written permission to someone else to make copies. An author has the right to perform her work. An author has the right to control the distribution of her work.

First Sale Doctrine confuses a lot of people. Basically, this is what it says. If you bought a hardback or a paperback (or a vinyl record, or a DVD etc) from a legitimate seller, you may sell it, or give it away. But, you cannot keep a copy. Once you give it away or sell it, you do not have it any more.

With an ebook, you cannot give it away or sell it because it is impossible to do that without creating a copy or six.

If some crook tells you they have "Re-Sell rights", do take a moment to think about that. Is it logical that 3,000 ebayers have all personally met with King, Knight, Kenyon, Grisham, Rowling, Roth, Harris et alia, and all have personally been given a signed contract from each of those authors?

If those authors are still living and making a living from their writing, is it logical that they would give every EBayer the right to resell their books and to pocket all the profits (apart from EBay's listing fees and PayPal's payment fees and the post office's postage fees if unlawfully copied CDs are being sent through the mail?)

No. It isn't.

Until every blank CD costs the same as it would cost to purchase a library of books (which isn't going to happen) authors aren't going to get paid for bootlegged and burned CDs.

So, do authors everywhere a favor. If you see an unbelievable bargain collection of authors' fiction for sale somewhere, Report it. Tell the author. Tell the publisher.

Thank you.

Thanks, too, to Pamela Fryer and Brenna Lyons for collecting some of these samples of publishers' copyright notices.

Rowena Cherry

PS for authors.
If you are on LinkedIn.com please join the White House group, and keep the discussion about e-book piracy alive.

http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&gid=2199632&discuss\
ionID=12370276&commentID=10500759&report.success=8ULbKyXO6NDvmoK7o030UNOYGZKrvdh\
BhypZ_w8EpQrrQI-BBjkmxwkEOwBjLE28YyDIxcyEO7_TA_giuRN#commentID_10500759


PPS for everyone
Kid Rock rocks! See his "Steal Everything" video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpCADfZD-eg&feature=autofb

Other blogs on piracy:

http://www.RosesOfProse.blogspot.com

http://www.nicolepeeler.com/2010/01/on-piracy/

http://leslirichardson.blogspot.com/2010/01/publishing-pirate-prattle-and-pay.html

Rowena Cherry

Publisher Simon And Schuster draws a line in the sand

All publishers should do this. Kudos to Simon and Schuster

http://www.simonandschuster.biz/content/feature.cfm?sid=33&feature_id=6982

Don't Copy That Floppy

A video on YouTube is creating quite a stir. Also, quite amazingly, there are well over 1,000 copies, and no sign of any spam.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUCyvw4w_yk&feature=email

Watch it all the way through, and you will appreciate (or not) some impressive credits and the offer of a substantial reward.

Report piracy and you might win $1,000,000

1-800-388-PIR8
http://www.siia.net/piracy/report

I wonder if the reward could equally well go to someone who reports e-book theft? I certainly hope the reward is an equal opportunity reward scheme!

Writers don't get paid for book tours

I was watching Power Lunch on CNBC yesterday, which I always do, even when I'm writing. A musician, entrepreneur, and co-author of a business book was being interviewed.

He was asked about piracy.

Kudos to Bill Griffith, and especially Michelle Caruso-Carrera for asking their guest, 50 cents about piracy. Of course, they targeted music piracy. Too bad they didn't ask his co-host, who was also a guest, about book piracy.

Essentially, the mega-rich musician/author guest (whose name is 50-cents) said that he did not mind piracy at all, and that musicians looked on the theft of copyrighted musical works (he did not call it theft) as inevitable, and as promotion for his concerts and tours and merchandise.

I find this attitude, while understandable, essentially immoral. Musicians muddy the waters of what is right and wrong when they tell people that stealing is good for the victim. They undermine all copyright by confusing the public, and by saying they don't mind theft.

That makes the rest of us, who do mind internet piracy look bad.

It's a case of "I'm all right, Jack!"

How popular does a musician have to be, to get a tour? Or a merchandising deal? Maybe not so much.

However, authors aren't usually paid for doing book tours. It's completely the other way around. Authors go on book tours to promote the book. Speaking engagements aren't usually paid. Anyway, authors write. Speaking is a whole set of other skills.

Authors don't sell merchandise (unless they are George Lucas, or J K Rowling... good luck to them!). Most of us can't even sell T-shirts, coffeemugs and tote bags, although we could create them at Cafepress.

Why don't we? Because we respect the copyrights of the cover models, cover artists, and cover model photographers, who usually sell limited rights to the publishers to use the images on the cover of books and for the promotion of those books, but not on mouse pads, underwear, screen savers and other merchandise sold for profit.

The best we can do is transfer a snappy quote from our books onto a T-shirt.

Anyway, I need a concluding thought to tie in with my opening. Otherwise, I would not admit this thought had crossed my mind... but if I happen to see this musician's business book on some of the file-"sharing" sites, I shall hope that the CNBC Power Lunch team are also tracking this book, and that they will have their guests back to ask about book piracy!

:-)