PDFS--Of the WotC Court Case

[Hawkwind]

I think that rpg publishers should see pdf file sharing not as lost income but as free viral advertising. WOTC have got and continue to via the DDI a lot of money of me thanks to me seeing the prerelease copies of the core books. I buy a lot of actual books most months and i cant remember the last book i brought without seeing the pdf first. I suspect i am not alone in this. if i was a publisher i would worried he no one was pirating my books , you cant find some mongoose stuff pirated for love nor money.

 

[Umbran]

So it would be nice if "fair use" would get updated to reflect a policy for sharing pieces/parts via the internet, especially since it involves "copies" of material from a book. We follow the spirit of fair use, but I would feel more comfortable if the written law reflected it.

I think the definition is still fairly sound - bu the technology to support that definition has not yet been built.

Imagine you have a copyrighted file, and your computer had a function that understood the concept, and would help you to manage fair use copying - it simulates handing around the file by allowing you to copy and send an acceptably sized portion that deletes itself at the end of a reasonable time? Make it part of an e-reader, build a "friends list" into it....

 

[thelettuceman]

I think a lot of people are just plain pissed off that downloading a pirated copy of WHATEVER is so easy.

Then again, there's nothing to stop me from going into a book store (particularly bigger ones that encourage you to sit down and read), flip through a rules book and transcribe what I want from it into a notebook. No one would look at me twice, and no one would care that I'm doing it to bring additional materials to my game.

Oh wait. Better hoist the colors. I'm a pirate.

 

[Treebore]

I think the definition is still fairly sound - bu the technology to support that definition has not yet been built.

Imagine you have a copyrighted file, and your computer had a function that understood the concept, and would help you to manage fair use copying - it simulates handing around the file by allowing you to copy and send an acceptably sized portion that deletes itself at the end of a reasonable time? Make it part of an e-reader, build a "friends list" into it....

That is one sweet idea, and seems extremely doable.

 

[malraux]

Piracy and Counterfeiting are both criminal acts, and federal agencies get involved in them.

In most of these piracy cases, no its not a criminal act. Its a civil issue. Again two separate things.

 

[malraux]

That is one sweet idea, and seems extremely doable.

Well, no. First, there's the analog hole, which has varying degrees of efficacy. In addition, ultimately, whatever the thing is, it must eventually be decrypted inside the computer. At that point, some ingenious hacker will figure out how to get at that data. The only way to stop that is to make it so that no unauthorized (by the computer maker, not the actual owner of the machine) software will be allowed to run. And even then, the hacks around for xbox, playstation and wii all show even that doesn't work.

 

[JohnRTroy]

In most of these piracy cases, no its not a criminal act. Its a civil issue. Again two separate things.

At least in the US, it is no longer "just a tort".

NET Act: 17 U.S.C. and 18 U.S.C. as amended (redlined)

You can actually go to jail for copyright infringement, should the Federal Government get involved.

 

[malraux]

At least in the US, it is no longer "just a tort".

NET Act: 17 U.S.C. and 18 U.S.C. as amended (redlined)

You can actually go to jail for copyright infringement, should the Federal Government get involved.

There's still a huge difference between the two. In counterfeiting of money, its basically just the federal government who is going to bring suit. In cases of copyright infringement, you're going to see primarily civil action, with the fedgov holding criminal action only for the organized groups.

 

[thormagni]

It made me post at my livejournal - Sometimes I don't like our fans. For every illegal copy of one of our products floating around the web, there is a "fan" who put it there. That's depressing.

It is an interesting dilemma and not an unusual one, unfortunately. Apparently, several years back, the Miami Herald decided to aggressively go after the "pirates" who were posting Dave Barry columns on newsgroups, as soon as they were published. The trail led to a 14-year-old in the Midwest who was just a huge Barry fan, and wanted to share his favorite author's work with anyone and everyone.

Clay Shirky, on his blog described the situation:

One of the people I was hanging around with online back then was Gordy Thompson, who managed internet services at the New York Times. I remember Thompson saying something to the effect of “When a 14 year old kid can blow up your business in his spare time, not because he hates you but because he loves you, then you got a problem.” Shirky's blog post

Sure, there are some people engaged in copyright violations who want to hurt a given business. But most people who illegaly spread and download intellectual property are fans. In addition to being "thieves," they are consumers and purchasers and people who are evangelically converting other people to the given property, making new fans who will then consume and purchase in turn.

Which puts a business in the unenviable position of thinking they have to crack down on their biggest fans because those fans are "costing them sales."

Rather than being defeatist to give up on hunting down these "pirates," it is actually self-defeating to pursue them. It has been proven in cases studies by people much smarter than me that providing free digital copies of your work actually leads to more real sales. I believe it was Cory Doctorow who pointed out that you really have a problem when nobody loves your work enough to spread it around.

Clearly, it is a counter-intuitive concept. And businesses are completely within their rights to pursue their business interests however they want and wherever they think they will lead. But as I'm a fan of RPGs and of RPG PDFs, I wish companies would wake up to the new reality.

What would I do, if I were in charge for a day? Make your own case study. I'd slap a big "promotional material" watermark on a bunch of PDFs and float them in the pirate channels. Provide an easy in-copy link where someone can either buy a reasonably priced, non-promotional-watermarked PDF or buy a print copy on your Web site. And then see what happens.

Of course, I work in the newspaper business. So what do I know?

 

[Treebore]

Well, no. First, there's the analog hole, which has varying degrees of efficacy. In addition, ultimately, whatever the thing is, it must eventually be decrypted inside the computer. At that point, some ingenious hacker will figure out how to get at that data. The only way to stop that is to make it so that no unauthorized (by the computer maker, not the actual owner of the machine) software will be allowed to run. And even then, the hacks around for xbox, playstation and wii all show even that doesn't work.

I am not worried about being hacked, as long as my anti hacking software works, I am more interested in the facilitation of proper "fair use" over the internet.