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By Chris Meadows

PC World has an article looking at the problem of e-book piracy. And while this article does get a few things wrong (such as believing e-book piracy started relatively recently), it does echo a few of the things that have been noted here on TeleRead.

It begins by discussing the “growth” of e-book piracy coming along with the growth in popularity of e-book readers. (I would be inclined to say it hasn’t actually grown all that much; it’s just that more people are thinking about e-readers so they’re more likely to notice it now.)

Then it covers authors such as J.K. Rowling who refuse to authorize e-book editions of their work. It points out the same thing I have in the past: you can’t copy-protect ink on paper, and the scanning process is surprisingly simple.

"If electronic books can’t be had legitimately, others will step in and fill the need; and once a pirate industry is established, it probably won’t go away easily," says [consumer technology analyst Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group]. The best way for the publishing industry to combat piracy is to follow the music industry’s lead and make more e-book titles available.

On page 2, the article delves into DRM, pointing out how easily it can be cracked and how it prevents consumers from moving their purchases to other devices. With writers such as Stephen Covey signing exclusivity deals, this could become a concern in the near future. And even Adobe is making its DRM less restrictive.

In the end, I agree with much of what this article says: e-book piracy is going to be a bigger (and more noticeable) problem the more people get into e-book reading, and DRM is not the best solution. It is good to see the problems getting more attention. It remains to be seen, however, what will be done to address them.

 
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