22 September 2009

The lowest of the low

You know, I USED to think pirates selling copies of my free reads was the lowest of the low in the world of e-piracy. I would give a gift to my readers, and some jerk would try to make money off of it and cheat my readers, in the process.

I've found a new "lowest of the low." These people are bottom feeders. They don't care who they hurt, who they cheat. Let me explain what I mean.

Some of you probably know that I do a lot of charity anthologies, most but not all the Coming Together anthologies. Some of you are cringing already, and you're right to. I felt the bile rising in my throat, when I saw this one.

Alessia Brio, editor of the CT anthologies, found them being pirated on one notable pirate site. Her reply was a real class act, IMO. It probably won't make any difference to these people, because they have little or no shame about anything they do. My only hope is that one of the few pirates who really don't know they're doing wrong will see it and realize that there are very real consequences to pirating books.

I figure the site will erase the comment sometime today. In case you can't see it at the link, I'll quote it on here...just for posterity, because this was the perfect answer, IMO.

It takes a special breed of asshole to even attempt to pirate a charity anthology.

Violating copyright & stealing from authors, editors, artists, and publishers is one thing. It's both illegal & unethical. Stealing from a charity? There's a special hell for that.

Go Alessia! Whether it does any good or not, it made my day.

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