As technology offers a chance for publishers to explore new opportunities and business models, it also opens up many issues. One of the biggest problems publishers have to face ever since entering the digital world, is piracy.
This is a global issue occurring everywhere where technology is dominant. Movies, music and other media are being downloaded illegally every day from people all over the world, and since digital publishing emerged, this problem has also found its way to the publishing world.
As consumers have the opportunity to download books legally online (by buying them from e.g. the Kindle Store), they have the possibility of doing so illegally.
Looking at this issue several questions arise: How does piracy happen? What impact does it have? Is it a real threat to publishers? Are there any ways to combat piracy?
How does piracy happen?
The three methods used to access pirated content are: peer-to-peer file sharing, cloud storage ‘cyberlockers’, and online-reading sites (Springen, 2014).
For example, Dan Brown’s Book ‘The Lost Symbol’ was found illegally downloaded on over 1,000 websites by the end of its first week in September 2009 (Hill, 2010). For some reason it seems like many people don't understand that downloading all kinds of media content illegally is a crime. Most of them would never shoplift, but they have no problem hitting the download button, knowing that they are breaking the law by doing so. Many of them just expect that digital content is supposed to be free, and as they commit the crime on their computer, alone, they have no scruples and concerns, let alone feel guilty about their actions.
What impact does it have and is it a real threat to publishers?
It is clear that everyone who is involved in the distribution of books (authors, publishers, agents, booksellers, etc.) is being affected by this: “U.S. publishers across all categories lose $80 million to $100 million annually to piracy” (Springen, 2014). “With emerging e-book standards and the growing popularity of iPads, Kindles and other e-readers, book piracy is expected to grow dramatically in 2014 and beyond” (Digimarc.com, 2014). So this means, that piracy is a real issue and that it does have a dramatic affect on the book industry
This is a global issue occurring everywhere where technology is dominant. Movies, music and other media are being downloaded illegally every day from people all over the world, and since digital publishing emerged, this problem has also found its way to the publishing world.
As consumers have the opportunity to download books legally online (by buying them from e.g. the Kindle Store), they have the possibility of doing so illegally.
Looking at this issue several questions arise: How does piracy happen? What impact does it have? Is it a real threat to publishers? Are there any ways to combat piracy?
How does piracy happen?
The three methods used to access pirated content are: peer-to-peer file sharing, cloud storage ‘cyberlockers’, and online-reading sites (Springen, 2014).
For example, Dan Brown’s Book ‘The Lost Symbol’ was found illegally downloaded on over 1,000 websites by the end of its first week in September 2009 (Hill, 2010). For some reason it seems like many people don't understand that downloading all kinds of media content illegally is a crime. Most of them would never shoplift, but they have no problem hitting the download button, knowing that they are breaking the law by doing so. Many of them just expect that digital content is supposed to be free, and as they commit the crime on their computer, alone, they have no scruples and concerns, let alone feel guilty about their actions.
What impact does it have and is it a real threat to publishers?
It is clear that everyone who is involved in the distribution of books (authors, publishers, agents, booksellers, etc.) is being affected by this: “U.S. publishers across all categories lose $80 million to $100 million annually to piracy” (Springen, 2014). “With emerging e-book standards and the growing popularity of iPads, Kindles and other e-readers, book piracy is expected to grow dramatically in 2014 and beyond” (Digimarc.com, 2014). So this means, that piracy is a real issue and that it does have a dramatic affect on the book industry
Are there any ways to combat piracy?
A first step would be to raise awareness amongst consumers, to make clear what damage online piracy is doing, and also what someone has to expect when being caught downloading ebooks from illegal websites.
In terms of what publishers could do to fight piracy, licensing e-books to libraries is one way, as “libraries encourage users to borrow books instead of pirating them” (Springen, 2014).
Furthermore publishers have “to publish digital content across as many formats as possible, through as many channels, at a fair price” (Hill, 2010).
Last but not least publishers should make use of anti-piracy technology. For example, HarperCollins now uses ‘Guardian Watermarking’, a new, cloud-based, tool to prevent ebooks from being pirated, by embedding “an invisible watermark into ebooks at the time of transaction” (Dixit, 2014). This makes it easier to track down whoever pirated a book.
To conclude, there is no doubt that pirating ebooks is a crime of stealing intellectual property and therefore publishers are in the right when taking action to put an end to this.
The steps they are taking to do so seem to be a good approach and will hopefully effectively reduce the amour of illegally downloaded ebooks
- 569 words
Bibliography
Boog, J., (2012); How To Fight Book Pirates; [online] Social Times; Available at: http://socialtimes.com/how-to-save-your-ebook-from-pirates_b175406; [Accessed 25 Oct. 2014]
Deahl, R., (2012); Is Rowling Tarnishing Her Rep Abroad over Piracy Fears?; [online] PublishersWeekly.com.; Available at: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/international/international-book-news/article/53337-is-rowling-tarnishing-her-rep-abroad-over-piracy-fears.html; [Accessed 25 Oct. 2014]
Digimarc.com, (2014); Protecting Publishers and Their Authors from Digital Piracy; [online] Digimarc.com; Available at: http://www.digimarc.com/docs/default-source/digimarc-guardian/dmrc-sb-guardian-overview.pdf?sfvrsn=12; [Accessed 25 Oct. 2014]
Dixit, P., (2014); HarperCollins Is Now Using Digital Watermarks To Stop Ebook Piracy; [online] Gizmodo; Available at: http://gizmodo.com/harpercollins-is-now-using-digital-watermarks-to-stop-e-1635220938; [Accessed 25 Oct. 2014]
Doctorow, C., (2013); The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Piracy, DRM, and the E-book Issue [online] Publishing.sfu.ca.; Available at: http://publishing.sfu.ca/2013/01/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-piracy-drm-and-the-e-book-issue/; [Accessed 25 Oct. 2014]
Greenfield, J., (2013); Does Piracy Hurt Digital Content Sales? Yes; [online] Digitalbookworld.com.; Available at: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2013/does-piracy-hurt-digital-content-sales-yes/; [Accessed 25 Oct. 2014]
Hill, A., (2010); Book Publishers Fear Threat of Digital Piracy; [online] Financial Times; Available at: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b93aaec4-6435-11df-8618-00144feab49a.html#axzz3HFkQPuyc; [Accessed 25 Oct. 2014]
Macmillan Publishers, (2014); Macmillan's Anti-Piracy; [online] Macmillan Publishers; Available at: http://us.macmillan.com/piracy; [Accessed 25 Oct. 2014]http://us.macmillan.com/piracy
Reimers, I., (2014); The Effect of Piracy Protection in Book Publishing; 1st ed. [pdf] University of Minnesota; Available at: http://www.econ.umn.edu/~reime062/research/piracy_paper.pdf; [Accessed 25 Oct. 2014]
Sechi, L., (2014); Hot Topics: Piracy; [online] Ifbookthen.com.; Available at: http://www.ifbookthen.com/hot-topics-piracy/; [Accessed 25 Oct. 2014]
Springen, K., (2014); What YA Publishers and Authors Can Do to Fight E-Book Piracy; [online] PublishersWeekly.com; Available at: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/63357-the-piracy-problem.html; [Accessed 25 Oct. 2014]
A first step would be to raise awareness amongst consumers, to make clear what damage online piracy is doing, and also what someone has to expect when being caught downloading ebooks from illegal websites.
In terms of what publishers could do to fight piracy, licensing e-books to libraries is one way, as “libraries encourage users to borrow books instead of pirating them” (Springen, 2014).
Furthermore publishers have “to publish digital content across as many formats as possible, through as many channels, at a fair price” (Hill, 2010).
Last but not least publishers should make use of anti-piracy technology. For example, HarperCollins now uses ‘Guardian Watermarking’, a new, cloud-based, tool to prevent ebooks from being pirated, by embedding “an invisible watermark into ebooks at the time of transaction” (Dixit, 2014). This makes it easier to track down whoever pirated a book.
To conclude, there is no doubt that pirating ebooks is a crime of stealing intellectual property and therefore publishers are in the right when taking action to put an end to this.
The steps they are taking to do so seem to be a good approach and will hopefully effectively reduce the amour of illegally downloaded ebooks
- 569 words
Bibliography
Boog, J., (2012); How To Fight Book Pirates; [online] Social Times; Available at: http://socialtimes.com/how-to-save-your-ebook-from-pirates_b175406; [Accessed 25 Oct. 2014]
Deahl, R., (2012); Is Rowling Tarnishing Her Rep Abroad over Piracy Fears?; [online] PublishersWeekly.com.; Available at: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/international/international-book-news/article/53337-is-rowling-tarnishing-her-rep-abroad-over-piracy-fears.html; [Accessed 25 Oct. 2014]
Digimarc.com, (2014); Protecting Publishers and Their Authors from Digital Piracy; [online] Digimarc.com; Available at: http://www.digimarc.com/docs/default-source/digimarc-guardian/dmrc-sb-guardian-overview.pdf?sfvrsn=12; [Accessed 25 Oct. 2014]
Dixit, P., (2014); HarperCollins Is Now Using Digital Watermarks To Stop Ebook Piracy; [online] Gizmodo; Available at: http://gizmodo.com/harpercollins-is-now-using-digital-watermarks-to-stop-e-1635220938; [Accessed 25 Oct. 2014]
Doctorow, C., (2013); The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Piracy, DRM, and the E-book Issue [online] Publishing.sfu.ca.; Available at: http://publishing.sfu.ca/2013/01/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-piracy-drm-and-the-e-book-issue/; [Accessed 25 Oct. 2014]
Greenfield, J., (2013); Does Piracy Hurt Digital Content Sales? Yes; [online] Digitalbookworld.com.; Available at: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2013/does-piracy-hurt-digital-content-sales-yes/; [Accessed 25 Oct. 2014]
Hill, A., (2010); Book Publishers Fear Threat of Digital Piracy; [online] Financial Times; Available at: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b93aaec4-6435-11df-8618-00144feab49a.html#axzz3HFkQPuyc; [Accessed 25 Oct. 2014]
Macmillan Publishers, (2014); Macmillan's Anti-Piracy; [online] Macmillan Publishers; Available at: http://us.macmillan.com/piracy; [Accessed 25 Oct. 2014]http://us.macmillan.com/piracy
Reimers, I., (2014); The Effect of Piracy Protection in Book Publishing; 1st ed. [pdf] University of Minnesota; Available at: http://www.econ.umn.edu/~reime062/research/piracy_paper.pdf; [Accessed 25 Oct. 2014]
Sechi, L., (2014); Hot Topics: Piracy; [online] Ifbookthen.com.; Available at: http://www.ifbookthen.com/hot-topics-piracy/; [Accessed 25 Oct. 2014]
Springen, K., (2014); What YA Publishers and Authors Can Do to Fight E-Book Piracy; [online] PublishersWeekly.com; Available at: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/63357-the-piracy-problem.html; [Accessed 25 Oct. 2014]