(urth) Wolfe ebooks & stories

James Wynn crushtv at gmail.com
Mon Mar 8 13:44:26 PST 2010


> Has anyone determined yet whether this site is legal? They've got a
> huge library of stuff up there...

It depends on where it is hosted, I suppose. That's the way it has
always been with copyright laws, I think. Fortunately, I suspect the
actual harm these  publishers and authors is almost nil since (looking
them over) almost anyone who would download these stories would prefer
to own the books anyway. They're probably more greatly harmed by used
book stores.

Incidentally, I'm finishing up Pirate Freedom right now and it made me
think of those modern day pirates: cyber-thieves who use tactics from
phishing, malware, and outright extortion to net millions each
year.Like the sailors in the ships, I imagine the programmers make a
small fraction of what they pull in. A large number of attacks seem to
originate out of Eastern Europe and China, and I'd imagine those
countries could shut them down quickly if they wanted to. But if you
share a world with a lone superpower that is technologically
dependent, they are a useful tool in your chest..

So just as the English and French looked the other way regarding
privateers as long as they did not poach their own nation's ships, I
imagine it is the same in Eastern Europe and Asia.


J.



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