“eBook Piracy Surge in 2013: New Threats and the Pressure on Legal Markets”
The nearly concluded year 2013 has been particularly successful for the eBook market. However, in the wake of legal offerings, book pirates have also grown and have achieved enormous growth this year.
This ultimately culminated in what may be the largest eBook warez site introducing a usage fee. This was meant to finance more eBooks and the increasingly expensive server. Now, for just 10 euros for 3 months, the platform is staying afloat. More so, the financial success was so great that shortly after the fee was introduced, the spokesperson “Spiegelbest” got cold feet and pulled the personal emergency brake, leaving B***.to.
The real shock came a few days later when the entire eBook offering of the platform was spread across the internet. In total, over 40,000 book titles were distributed in one complete package across various channels. This was a major blow to the platform because the value of the offering significantly diminishes when the entire collection can be downloaded elsewhere for free. For the book industry, however, this shouldn’t initially present too big of a problem, since private users will only ever read a tiny fraction of that massive package.
Bigger, Better, More Beautiful, and Illegal
More problematic in the long run is that the eBook archive has opened up opportunities for others to start a pirate site. After all, one does not have to start from scratch but can draw on an extensive collection.
This is precisely what happened. Shortly after the well-known platform B***.to, another site, L**.to, opened its doors. The (illegal) offerings include the mentioned 40,000-eBook package, magazines, and audiobooks, which the operators had already provided on another platform.
This move likely made L**.to the largest eBook-warez platform currently available, at least in terms of offerings. It is certainly a serious competitor to the current leader, B***.to.
The new platform offers more and is better designed. It is thus a serious competitor to B***.to and certainly another problem for rights holders
According to their own statements, the book pirates offer a total of 2.88 terabytes of data, most of which probably consists of audiobooks.
Like B***.to, this new platform aims to generate revenue, but not via a flat rate, rather through a credit system. This can be topped up using a Paysafecard or Bitcoins, allowing users to purchase the desired eBooks or audiobooks for just a few cents (well below retail prices). Most eBooks range from 1 to 3 cents, audiobooks from 10 to 50 cents.
From a user perspective, the offering could only be improved regarding its (missing) legality. For rights holders, however, a serious problem arises: B***.to was a platform that, despite all efforts, couldn’t be shut down, yet at least it was the sole major opponent known. Now there’s a second one, with offerings not only better presented but also larger due to the addition of audiobooks and magazines.
Future… Uncertain
Moreover, there’s no guarantee that these two offerings will be the end. With the B***.to eBook archive, it could be replicated indefinitely. At best, the fight against these illegal offerings is like fighting windmills. In reality, there seems to be no genuine battle since the providers, operating without advertisements, one-click hosts, or intermediaries, with their servers located overseas, remain untouchable. Efforts to take these illegal platforms offline are likely to continue to be futile.
For rights holders, this means that pursuing these platforms and their operatives is probably a waste of time and money. To prevent losing business to the pirates, it’s high time to revamp their offerings.
This begins with abandoning the restrictive DRM protections, which make it harder for honest buyers to read eBooks but do nothing to prevent book pirates from copying the titles. The reasoning behind DRM continues to serve no purpose, more so as time progresses.
Google also supports in its Piracy Report the opinion that improving the legal offerings is the primary way to effectively combat piracy: “Piracy often arises when consumer demand is not met by legal offers. As demonstrated by services from Netflix to Spotify to iTunes, creating better and more convenient legal services is the best way to combat piracy. The right combination of price, convenience, and selection will yield much better outcomes in reducing piracy than enforced restrictions.”
The second measure must be providing transparent and understandable eBook pricing. A few days ago, we already questioned why eBooks are so expensive. Several examples showed quite clearly that consumers are being charged the same for digital books as hardcovers, while in some cases, even the associated unabridged audiobooks are cheaper.
What is certain, however, is that the battle for customers – legal and illegal – will be fought even more fiercely next year than before. Not only the numerous legal providers vie for the affection of customers but also the book pirates.
Image source: Olivier Bruchez
