tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903848080840259127.post7746528555889534508..comments2024-02-16T14:10:12.166+08:00Comments on Bibliophile Stalker: Essay: eBook Piracy and Copyright in the PhilippinesUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903848080840259127.post-28523528877472459902012-08-19T17:41:11.152+08:002012-08-19T17:41:11.152+08:00I'm a university student in the Philippines. R...I'm a university student in the Philippines. Reading is my passion. I can sometimes afford prints. But other times, local bookstores don't sell the books I would like to have. I don't have a credit card so I can't buy either prints or ebooks from international onlite bookshops. So, I resort to downloading torrents.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903848080840259127.post-58421917982743684722012-04-24T01:36:05.415+08:002012-04-24T01:36:05.415+08:00I love this article it's well written and very...I love this article it's well written and very detailed. I know what it's like not to be able to buy a book I want to read even if it's available in the bookstores in the big cities here in the Philippines. The prices are way over my head and I need to save up for months before I can afford to buy the books and by then the books may be out of stock already. With regards to ebooks I get them from friends around the web who actually buy the ebooks and post them in torrents and forums for free. These ebooks are bought and edited from the original format and condition they were sold as. If I liked what I read I'd make an effort to save up and buy the actual book. If I could buy an ebook from Amazon at a reasonable price I'd be buying instead of scouring the net for free ebooks.So far I have encountered people who sell ebooks in ebay.ph and facebook for a price that Filipino buyers can afford. The sellers are not actually charging for the actual ebooks but for their effort in finding the ebooks in the net (since they don't ask for exorbitant prices for the book. I've seen some ebooks sold for only 1 Philippine Peso). A lot of people patronize this for 3 reasons - first, they don't know where to look; second, they don't have the time to shop at legit stores that sell ebooks like Amazon; and third, they can't afford to buy even a $4 dollar ebook on a meager salary. I'm not pro-piracy either but that's just how avid readers from the Philippines get to read what they want. It's pretty much a gray area - It's illegal to sell ebooks if you don't have international copyright to it but it seems to be ok to sell ebooks if someone else actually bought it just like a real book when someone sells it after they read them.4ev3r.m0r3noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903848080840259127.post-88845047934126014432011-05-01T01:29:54.281+08:002011-05-01T01:29:54.281+08:00You paint a very dark future for digital books/ebo...You paint a very dark future for digital books/ebooks, so do you think ebooks will (ever) take off here in the Philippines?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903848080840259127.post-66546651186288807702011-02-17T05:19:17.334+08:002011-02-17T05:19:17.334+08:00Great summary of the book piracy issue. I think t...Great summary of the book piracy issue. I think that you also present a clear way forward. Make ebooks available and at reasonable prices and many of those who would pay for a book in a world without piracy will pay for it.brewbenzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03851969896919399470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903848080840259127.post-51186536184640686672011-01-26T12:36:40.295+08:002011-01-26T12:36:40.295+08:00Very enlightening post!Very enlightening post!Miss Fhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07806640305749683922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903848080840259127.post-38063744035195992492011-01-24T15:35:58.367+08:002011-01-24T15:35:58.367+08:00Like what everyone said, great post. I've been...Like what everyone said, great post. I've been struggling to form an opinion about the entire ebook piracy issue as I've been doing my best to always get legit copies of the books I read. It's hard to discourage someone else to do that here, especially because of the points you mentioned above. It doesn't justify piracy, but it addresses the points that I am not sure I would be eloquent enough to write about.<br /><br />Personally, I think if you have the access and the means to get the book legally whether in print or electronic, do it. The good thing about having reader friends is you can borrow from them. It's not as easy as having a library to borrow books from, but more often than not, you'd have friends who read the same genre as you do and they'd be willing to lend you books you want to read.Tinahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03117727816153606646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903848080840259127.post-90035401629696205842011-01-22T22:29:27.891+08:002011-01-22T22:29:27.891+08:00Great post. I have been thinking many of the same ...Great post. I have been thinking many of the same things, although from a (lower socio/economic) Australian point of view.<br /><br />On the point of formatting, i subscribe to asimov's magazine at a few bucks an issue, then have to spend hours reformatting it before it is readable. Ive heard that the high cost of ebooks is because of the labour involved in creating them, but if that is the case, publishers need to shop around, cause I would do it at home better, for less money...<br /><br />Thanks for your writeup, you've said what I wanted to say, only much better!Natehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05695120965430623995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903848080840259127.post-12811061311229663572011-01-22T03:24:00.675+08:002011-01-22T03:24:00.675+08:00This is a great post, Charles. Seriously the best ...This is a great post, Charles. Seriously the best thing I've yet seen on the topic in this discussion. :) I'm pretty embarrassed for not thinking about how difficult it can be to get books in countries outside North America and (ostensibly) Western Europe, and I'm glad I'm starting to learn!JoSellehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01268188228487571822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903848080840259127.post-39940091979880833722011-01-21T06:39:21.983+08:002011-01-21T06:39:21.983+08:00Great insight, I didn't realize how costly boo...Great insight, I didn't realize how costly books could be in other countries (the prices you listed are nuts!) and how hard they are to get.<br /><br />As for counting the number of illegal copies as a measure of success - maybe it's not a bad idea of obscure/unpublished authors to seed their work as a promotional tool...<br /><br />At the end you stated that piracy is a matter of convenience. The music industry has already learned this the hard way, and now we can find almost any music we want for a decent price and drm free. Also, I am on the side that says if you purchase the hard copy of the book, you should be able to download the book to read digitally for free - there is no reason anyone should have to pay for the same thing twice!Krishttp://kristruitt.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903848080840259127.post-47522752469314732032011-01-21T06:23:10.189+08:002011-01-21T06:23:10.189+08:00Oh, piracy. In Mexico it's common to see pirat...Oh, piracy. In Mexico it's common to see pirated paperbacks or hardcopies. They photocopy the thing, then print it and sell a cheaper version than what you'd find at the bookstore.<br /><br />But it's true that the biggest threat to a writer is obscurity. Boy, do I know that.silviamghttp://silviamoreno-garcia.com/blog/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903848080840259127.post-71654730993828902102011-01-20T18:46:53.254+08:002011-01-20T18:46:53.254+08:00Well, your post can be copied nearly verbatim, rep...Well, your post can be copied nearly verbatim, replacing "Serbia" for "Philippines". I'm guessing the situation is pretty similar all over the world, outside the walled garden of US-UK.Sebastianhttp://www.screaming-planet.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903848080840259127.post-59364459276271320742011-01-20T18:46:22.976+08:002011-01-20T18:46:22.976+08:00thanks for the description of reality in which it ...thanks for the description of reality in which it lives most of the readers in developing countries (and I include myself in).Viktornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903848080840259127.post-82057989633641994542011-01-20T18:37:23.197+08:002011-01-20T18:37:23.197+08:00Hi, Charles. Enjoyed reading this. At the time tha...Hi, Charles. Enjoyed reading this. At the time that the Google Books debates started I had just finished my final paper for grad school, and was on the side of scanning books and making them available to all (or me!). I couldn't imagine how any library here could keep up (print-wise) with the best universities elsewhere, and hitting a pay wall for every interesting and recent resource I could find was annoying. If I were more passionate about that paper I probably would have resorted to seeking out pirated versions. Instead I settled for not-as-good, but free, references.<br /><br />And another story: I've been published locally via Summit Books, and every now and then I get visits to my blog via people searching for a "free ebook" of my titles and variations on the wording. I have mixed feelings about that. ("At least there's a demand" is one, and "I hope they don't find one and just buy or borrow" is another.) I'm not sure how many of those people will buy the ebook if it was made available at a cheaper price though, so who knows if that'll solve anything.Mina V. Esguerrahttp://minavesguerra.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903848080840259127.post-79770638371386738892011-01-20T14:30:18.304+08:002011-01-20T14:30:18.304+08:00I live in the Philippines also-I was glad to see y...I live in the Philippines also-I was glad to see you explaining to the rest of the world that we do not have actual libraries-if we want to try a new to us author we must either borrow the book form someone, often not possible, buy the book or we can if we find it down load a pirated copy of an e-book-I have seen works online recently that seemed to me not to be in the public domain-they were by coincidence all short stories I wanted to read-my only legitimate way to read them is to buy an entire book to read one story-I do not know how these stories came to be on line I just know given a free e book over buy a book to read just part of it or even to find I do not like it at all I will take the free downloadMel uhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08714473754458914681noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903848080840259127.post-17403191204444829402011-01-20T13:17:33.359+08:002011-01-20T13:17:33.359+08:00Excellent and enlightening post, Charles.Excellent and enlightening post, Charles.Mike Allenhttp://time-shark.livejournal.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903848080840259127.post-45053660698626494862011-01-20T13:08:42.785+08:002011-01-20T13:08:42.785+08:00These discussions do overlook that copyright law D...These discussions do overlook that copyright law DIFFER from one country to another, and assuming that they are the same elsewhere as they are in the US is the height of arrogance. Not to mention, Western intellectual property laws as they exist today are deeply problematic: originally the concept was designed to stimulate creation of artwork and new inventions by allowing author/inventors to profit from them for a limited time; now it seems that they are becoming a tool for the authors/inventors to squeeze every last drop of profit, often at the expense of he less privileged elsewhere.Fish Monkeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15513113946225645783noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903848080840259127.post-28148034384035326632011-01-20T12:31:13.221+08:002011-01-20T12:31:13.221+08:00Really great essay, Charles. I like the developing...Really great essay, Charles. I like the developing country perspective, which I haven't read anyone tackle yet. <br /><br />I don't download ebooks, out of a preference for print, but I do understand the argument of convenience for us here. If I really needed a book pronto and it wasn't available locally, I'd take the pirated ebook, especially if the ebook price is too restrictive.fantaghiro23https://www.blogger.com/profile/16834003796589218555noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903848080840259127.post-3773589247877734022011-01-20T12:15:48.221+08:002011-01-20T12:15:48.221+08:00This is a great post. Thanks so much for both the ...This is a great post. Thanks so much for both the perspective and taking the time to elucidate what's going on outside our borders. I live in the US and have had the piracy debate with other writers. The prevailing attitude is "Stealing is stealing. It is wrong, plain and simple."<br /><br />If a US college kid with a trust fund has a Kindle full of books he downloaded for free just because he could it is NOT THE SAME as his Indian counterpart, who can't get an $8.00 book without paying $30 in shipping and waiting for six weeks. Yep, they're both stealing. But one of them is doing so out of malice and the other out of desperation.Laurelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06120847492230531939noreply@blogger.com