I have been out of the book scene for a while, concentrating on rare and out of print movies instead of books because it is much easier to rip a movie from VHS or DVD than to scan and proof a book. I generally only upload content that I have scanned, with some exceptions. Between 2002-2005 I created around 200 ebooks by scanning the physical copy, OCRing and proofing the output, and uploading them to USENET. I used to scan many books, but in the past two years I have only done a few. The Real Caterpillar: In the past month, I have uploaded approximately 50 books to the torrent site where you contacted me. How many books have you uploaded or downloaded? As is typical of anonymous online communities, he has a peculiar handle: “ The Real Caterpillar.” This is what he told me: We discussed his file sharing activity over the course of a weekend, via email, and in his answers lie a critical challenge facing the publishing industry: how to quash the emerging piracy threat without alienating their most enthusiastic customers. But he’s also uploaded hundreds of books to file sharing sites and he’s downloaded thousands. By some measures, he’s the publishing industry’s ideal customer, an avid reader who buys dozens of books a year and enthusiastically recommends his favorites to friends. He lives in the Midwest, he’s in his mid-30s and is a computer programmer by trade. Who are the people downloading these books? How are they doing it and where is it happening? And, perhaps most critical for the publishing industry, why are people deciding to download books and why now? I decided to find out, and after a few hours of searching – stalled by a number dead links and password protected sites – I found, on an online forum focused on sharing books via BitTorrent, someone willing to talk. Even if the various extrapolations that led to the $3-billion figure are easy to poke holes in, Attributor still directly counted 3.2 million downloaded books.įor some, however, the study may inspire more questions than answers. Nonetheless, the study, which monitored 913 titles on several popular file hosting sites, did point to a level of activity that suggested illegal downloading of books was becoming more than just a niche pastime. Of all the conclusions in the Attributor study, this one seemed the most outlandish, and the study itself might be met with some skepticism since Attributor is in the business of charging companies to protect their content from the threat of piracy. Meanwhile, technology for scanning physical books and breaking the DRM on ebooks has continued to advance.Ī recent study by Attributor, a firm that specializes in monitoring content online, came to some spectacular conclusions, including the headline claim that book piracy costs the industry nearly $3 billion, or over 10% of total revenue. Ereaders have become mainstream, making reading ebooks palatable to many more readers. As the music industry was ravaged by file sharing, and the film and TV industry were increasingly targeted by downloaders, book piracy was but a quaint cul de sac in the vast file sharing ecology. For several years, it seemed as though the book industry was getting a reprieve.

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