Do as I say, not as I do
You have to laugh. The so-called ‘Pirate Party’ of Germany is in favour of the ‘free exchange of copyrighted material for non-commercial use’. In other words — if an individual wants to rip off a book they should be legally allowed to do so.
Julia Schramm, a member of the ‘party’s’ executive committee, recently signed a €100,000 deal with the Random House-owned German publisher Albrecht Knaus Verlag for her book Click Me. This seems quite a lot of money for a book that’s reportedly a rant against capitalism at large and the ‘content media’ (who include, one presumes, Random House).
Anyway… Click Me has duly just gone on sale at the pretty hefty price of €16.99 in print and €13.99 as an ebook. And people are ripping it off.
I know. Shocking. According to Der Spiegel…
Unidentified parties uploaded a PDF version of the book to an Internet file-sharing service and then spread the link on social media platforms like Twitter and Tumblr, along with information about the Pirate Party’s platform — including its proviso that information should be free.
So what did Schramm’s publisher do? What they normally do of course. Call in the lawyers and get them to threaten the file-sharing service. Shortly after the file was taken down and visitors were informed…
This file is no longer available due to a takedown request under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by Julia Schramm Autorin der Verlagsgruppe Random House.
I’m confused here. Is piracy only wrong when it affects other people?
Information Mustn’t Be Free: Pirate Party Member Insists on Copyright for Book – SPIEGEL ONLINE.
2 Responses to “Do as I say, not as I do”
Funny that you publish this on Talk Like a Pirate Day. So that’s what pirates say, is it? Do as I say, not as I do. Pieces of eight for me, pieces of hate for you.
Some months ago there was a big discussion about a list that many authors signed claiming: “We are the copyright-owners”. It’s a long list. The Pirate Party of course thought it to be rubbish. It’s not.
http://www.wir-sind-die-urheber.de
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