The Entitlement Road

This week I've been dealing a lot with epirates. What are epirates, you might ask?

Well, you might know them by different names: downloaders, file-sharers, torrent users, etc. They have lots of aliases. They go by a lot of labels.

Now, I'm not talking about people who download legal copies they paid to download. I'm not talking about Kindle users or other ebook files obtained legally through a publisher or online bookseller. I'm talking about epirates - people who take files and upload them to torrent sites so that other people may download the file for free.

This week I've had a run in with a lot of people on a particular site, and one of the users questioned the legality of the site. So many people jumped to the fore, crying, "Yes! It's legal!" Others pointed out copyright and said, "No! This is illegal! But I'm going to do it anyway because....." Others, when educated about what they were really doing were horrified. Still others, now educated, took what I call The Entitlement Road and said, "Yeah, it's illegal, and I don't care, because I'm entitled to this because ____." They all had reasons for why they were entitled to steal.

Some pointed to libraries. "Filesharing is just like what libraries do and they don't pay authors!" (Um, no it isn't, and yeah they do.) Others pointed to a certain Big Name Writer who made a video saying that epiracy helps authors (I will not link to him, but you're free to look it up yourself. I mention him below by name), so what they were doing may be illegal but ultimately it didn't hurt anyone. (Uh, yeah it does.) Others said, "well, I bought the hard copy, so I'm entitled to the ecopy for my reader." (Um, no you're not.) One person went so far as to say, "Well, it's okay for me to do it because I delete the file as soon as I'm done with it." (Uh...and that justifies stealing it, why? Just because you get rid of it when you're finished using it doesn't mean it's okay to take in the first place. That's like saying, "Oh, I stole this car but I parked it nicely when I was done using it so it's okay." What?)

Ad nauseum.

I'm going to save the rest of my rant for what I wrote in that forum, posted here. (Cut here for length.)

Dina's Rant on a Piracy Forum:

Let's clear up some misconceptions, shall we?

First, libraries don't "deprive authors of income." They purchase the books they lend from the publisher, and the average paperback can take 25-40 "lends" before it needs to be replaced, then the library buys another one. Furthermore, they lend THE SAME COPY over and over. This is perfectly legal. They don't take their copy to Kinkos and make copy after copy to lend out. This is illegal to do. Libraries are legal ways to obtain books to read, but you have to give those books back BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT YOURS TO KEEP. They fine you if you don't bring it back on time, too. Likewise it is also illegal for you to take a library book to Kinkos and make a copy of it, or scan it into your computer and upload it to a site like this one. You're making an illegal copy.

Second, it's about choice. I choose to give my work away or not. Sites like these/torrents/whatever take that choice away from me. You're taking a copy of a file you have and making multiple copies and just letting anyone take that file. You're not "lending" the file - you're giving away another copy. You still have your copy, and you just make another for someone else. This is illegal.

Now let's talk about Neil Gaiman. Neil is wrong in that sharing ebook files is "like lending." It's not. It's simply not. See above. Libraries have ONE copy. When you purchase a book and loan it to a friend, that's perfectly legal. It's ONE copy the author was paid for. Now, if you took that book you bought, went to Kinkos and made them a copy of it and gave it to them, that's illegal. It's the exact same thing you're doing here, only you're doing it with a virtual file instead of a paperback copy.

But it's still stealing. It's still theft. It's still illegal copies. It's piracy, and it's wrong, morally AND legally.

Buying a used book is also legal. Why? Because it's ONE copy. One. The author has been paid for that copy.

Now, you might think that because you own the hardcover you're entitled to the paperback. Try explaining that to a bookstore owner and see what happens when you walk out of the store with the paperback in hand without paying for it. You might think the same thing about ebooks - well, you bought the paperback, so why can't you have a copy on your Kindle since you bought the print version?

Because they're two different things, that's why. Also, when you buy a book, in whatever format, YOU DON'T OWN THE CONTENT OF THAT BOOK. You own the physical or virtual object, NOT what's inside. The copyright holder/content creator does. You know those agreements you sign when you put a program on your computer or sign up for a forum like this one? The ones that say (if you bother to read them) that you won't make copies of the program or forum or change anything about it? Same thing with a book.

YOU DO NOT OWN THE CONTENT OF THE BOOK. Like your car. Yes, you own the car, but you do not own the right to make a car just like it and name it after yourself. Why? Because the way that car is made is owned by Toyota. You own the physical object, NOT what it's made of. Every piece of your car has a number on it, and the way those pieces are put together belong to the company that made it.

Same with a book. Or an ebook.

Are you getting it now? When you buy a movie, you own a copy of the movie, but the company that made that movie owns it. You don't own Brad Pitt (as much as you'd like to) or Angelina Jolie (as much as you'd like to). 20th Century Fox or MGM owns that movie - you just bought a copy. When you make ANOTHER copy of that movie and give it to a friend, that's illegal. Now, when you have a friend over to watch your copy with you, or loan it to them to watch, no problems! It's still ONE copy. Video stores and Netflix and everything pay the companies that own those films for those copies they lend.

See?

People make the mistake of thinking that since it's a virtual copy, it's not a real object. Well I put months - sometimes years - into making that book you like so much, and while I'm pleased you like it enough to want to give it to everyone, that doesn't help me at all. Instead, TELL them about it. Post on book sites and places how much you enjoy it. Put it on your blog. Send me a note telling me how much you liked my work and buy copies for all your friends as holiday gifts. THAT helps me. Illegal downloads don't.

If you're okay with being a thief and hurting people, fine. However you want to justify what you do is perfectly fine. If Neil Gaiman is okay with you downloading his work from torrents, fine, download HIS stuff. It is NOT okay with me, and I don't want you doing it with MY work. It's Neil's choice to give away his work. Neil has forgotten what it's like to be a small-to-midlist author, struggling to keep the contracts coming. Sales don't matter to Neil anymore - anything he puts his name on is an instant bestseller BECAUSE he's Neil Gaiman. But that's beside the point.

The point here is yes, this is illegal. Unless you wrote every word of what you "publish" here, you're stealing. This is not "sharing." This is not "like lending" (no matter what Neil Gaiman and Cory Doctorow say).

This is stealing. You okay with that?

I know that some people will continue to do what they do for whatever reason they feel justifies their behavior. I also know that some people will read that and feel like dogshit and not do it anymore. I know that some people will read that, feel bad for 10 seconds, then go look for another book to download. You can't win 'em all.

As a writer, epiracy is something you're going to have to deal with. You're going to have to decide if you're okay with people torrenting your work (but do keep in mind, how often your work is stolen is not indicative of how popular your work is - there is no "Most Pirated Novel of the Year" award), and how you're going to deal with it.

Some writers I know have cancelled series because of epiracy. It's a bigger problem than you might realize and it affects ALL writers, large and small. How much of an effect it has depends on a lot of factors, but what it boils down to is what you're going to do about it.

Something for you to think about, writer or no. If you want to know more about epiracy, you can start here:

http://dinajames.com/writing_piracy.html

http://www.deadlinedames.com/?p=2700

http://skyladawncameron.com/blog/piracy

Or you can comment below. Warning to commenters, though. Civilized discussion only. You are, of course, entitled (ha ha see what I did there) to your opinion, however if you're a jerk about your opinion, something very sharp will be inserted somewhere distinctly uncomfortable. BEHAVE YOURSELVES. Do not make me get out my double-pointed knitting needles.