US Publishers Shut Down Rogue EBook Websites
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It is only a matter of time before e-book publishers get more serious about going after e-book piracy (similar to what’s happening in the movie and music industries). Major book publishers have already managed to get two websites over e-book piracy. Seven members of the Association of American Publishers took legal action against www.library.nu and www.ifile guilty of costing the industry $10m in sales.
illegally acquired more than 400,000 copyrighted e-books and made them available for free, anonymous downloading on a site that disguised itself as a legitimate provider and alluded to serving as an authorized library for such content
the publishers alleged. These sites were not only giving people access to pirated e-books, they were also making money through advertising. Donations were part of the equation as well. The process of going after e-book pirates is still going to be a very costly one for publishers.
For every rogue site that is taken down, there are hundreds more demanding similar effort. I can’t think of a more timely example of the need for additional tools to expedite such action,
AAP president and chief executive Tom Allen explained. Nobody likes to have their work stolen. But by keeping e-book prices high and not allowing people to borrow e-books, some of these e-book publishers are shooting themselves in the foot. Let’s hope publishers can come up with a more effective solution to combat e-book piracy.
