There has been a huge outpouring of commentary regarding Terry Goodkind’s naming and shaming a pirate of his new ebook on social media*. Reactions are all over the place judging by several related blogs as well as the dozens of comments I read. Opinion appears to be rather equally distributed between praise, outrage and uneasy ambiguity.
I’m disturbed by how many people think piracy is okay because it’s easy to do and so many are doing it. This is a disturbing bastardization of moral thinking. Pirating is illegal; it’s stealing, and immoral. The actual book might be digital or “just data” but the STORY is owned by the Author and he/she has a right to payment for their creation regardless of format.
Pick pocketing is also common and easily done but the victim is still violated and outraged when it happens. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that it is illegal and immoral.
Cutting-in-line is also morally wrong but a common happening; perpetrators are unlikely to be punished. But bystanders applaud when they are ejected to the back of the line! Why is calling out book pirates different?
Robin Hood’s myth, stealing from the rich to give to the poor is a popular justification for the pick-pocket and the book pirate. Hood was still an outlaw with risk of punishment. His identity was also revealed on wanted posters nailed to trees—the pre-internet version of posting on Facebook or Twitter. Robin Hood was probably proud of his wanted posters; he believed his cause was just.
Why then is Goodkind’s pirate not thrilled to be named? If piracy is okay why are so many people outraged that the pirates name was revealed?
To those who use the logic that Goodkind is famous, rich and wouldn’t be hurt by a few pirated books I offer this.
Goodkind’s campaign against piracy aids all writers–rich or poor.
This includes the less profitable mid-listed authors and the starving unknown author who poured their heart into a novel for years and after finally self publishing is selling only a few of books a week. The missed royalty could helps pay debts for a cover artist and an editing since a profit may NEVER be realized.
I would love to own an iPhone but I can not afford one.
I don’t have the right to steal one even though Apples is rich, is charging too much and/or the quality isn’t what it should be. Boycotting is the moral way to protest the price or quality of an item.
I can’t afford an iPhone so I do not have one. The piracy issue is that simple.
Illustration and Laptop image by K LeRosier with partial images from wikimedia commons.
Cover scan of a Classics Comics book at commons.wikimedia.org
Buried Treasure: illustration of William “Captain” Kidd overseeing a treasure burial at commons.wikimedia.org
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