Not sure why people would take the time to pirate an ebook? Just to start off we’re not talking about taking a book and laboriously rewriting it with some changed words or concepts, not even copying everything to a word processing programme and using the search and replace function to replace certain words to make it pass muster through an auto-validation service. What we’re really looking at is software designed to ‘spin’ content, take that press release, short story or book and change enough of the words to satisfy an auto-validation service. This ‘new’ book is then given a new title, an author and sent off into the wilds of Amazon. I’m not sure how many books it’d be possible to publish on Amazon in one day using this method but I’m sure it’d be several. They may not be any good, they may have lost their magic but if you have enough books on Amazon for 99c you’re bound to sell some of them and make your money back.

While other book pirates will simply switch cover art or change the descriptive text of the book to tailor towards different audiences.

Would they call themselves authors if they’re not actually writing anything? Wrong question to ask but I’m putting it out there anyway just because I can. Other large self-publishers like Amazon don’t have auto-validation, they have real people doing manual validation ensuring those books are what they say they are. At least it’s giving people a job.

Then there’s the other sort of pirated ebook. I’m sure you’ve seen the ads every time you visit the cinema and watch a movie or whenever you get to watch a movie using a VCR with a video tape (how often does that happen?), the ones that tell you not to download movies as that’s piracy. Well, now there’s ebook piracy, apparently one young man uploaded 5,000 ebooks to The Pirate Bay.

Normally, when someone admits to a crime, it is quite easy to establish guilt and levy a sentence.

Things are changing and solicitors can, and do, argue any case they want. I do wonder what the judge was thinking when they let this one slip by though.

If you want to read more on ebook pirates or pirated ebooks there are plenty of links underneath both of those articles I’ve linked to. It would certainly be an interesting way to pass the time I haven’t got.