Writing a book takes considerable time and dedication. Whether or not a book becomes a bestseller, the author deserves to profit from his or her hard work. Unfortunately, the internet has made it easy to steal and share illegal electronic copies of books. Doing so is a violation of the author’s intellectual property. New York artists of all mediums may be interested to know about one major culprit of this offense and its ties to a popular social media site.
The site is called SlideShare and it is a hosting service site owned by LinkedIn. The service allows users to search for electronic copies of different visual presentations. While the site doesn’t directly post images of the text of the book, pirates use these slideshows to post detailed instructions on how to download an electronic copy of the book from a separate piracy site.
Besides being illegal, the site is problematic because users who download books this way may expose their computers to viruses and malware. LinkedIn, for its part, claims that it is trying to fight against this misuse, but many authors are still finding links to illegal copies of their books listed on the site. Even when they report the instance of copyright infringement, links often get reposted after initially coming down.
The people most hurt by this kind of piracy are the authors who have worked so hard only to have their creative work stolen by someone else. It is a reminder to artists of all kinds of how important is it to ensure that their intellectual property is guarded by copyright law. Those here in New York who want to take action may want to consult an attorney with experience in copyright law.