There has been a lot of debate in the past few days about the document sharing website Scribd. The publishers of authors such as JK Rowling and Ken Follett have been shocked to discover their books uploaded to the site in clear breach of copyright. While Scribd maintains that they will immediately remove such an offending item should it really be up to the author or publisher to alert them to its presence? And isn’t this just another example of creative piracy?
Authors are especially vulnerable to having their work stolen. Stories and ideas which take years to craft can be lifted without much risk of come-back. In the case of Scribd, however, lawyers are already getting twitchy. It will be interesting to watch developments unfold over the next few weeks and months.
In an unprecedented coup, Litopia After Dark’s Peter Cox has challenged Scribd chief Trip Adler to a live duel on air. Tune in tomorrow night, Friday 3rd April at 8pm GMT, to hear what he has to say about his site’s stance on internet piracy. You can access Litopia After Dark here:
And read more about the debate here:
And here: