Dolphin said:
Would you go into a public library and knock your book out of the hands of a patron? Taking the same stand on piracy is equally petulant and out of touch.
NO! NO! NO!
There is a fundamental difference between a library, in which a book is legally acquired, and piracy.
First, physical books, like CDs and movies, are covered under the Doctrine of First Sale. Once you buy a physical item, you can do with it as you wish. That means if you read it and then want to give it to someone, or sell it, or burn it, it is yours to do that with. What you do not have the right to do, however, is make a copy of that item and give it away. Because the Doctrine of First gives you the right to do with the physical item what you wish, but does not negate the copyright holder's right to his or her actual words. You own the physical product, not the words on the page.
Second, you cannot "borrow" or "lend" a digital file. You can only make a duplicate of the file. This is why Amazon needs your permission to allow customers to 'borrow' or lend your book, because it isn't an actual lending. It is a heavily coded DRM license. When I loan a friend a physical book, I no longer have the book. When I "loan" a friend a digital file, I have made a copy of that file and I still have the original. If that friend then loans the digital file to someone else, they have made another copy and still have their own.
Third, physical books wear out and need to be replaced. Digital files can be reproduced indefinitely. With a physical book, if that book is traded a dozen times, eventually it will fall apart. If a digital file, it can be duplicated thousands and thousands of times.
As a creator, I and I alone, have the right to decide what happens to my work. Like I said, I don't go chasing down pirates as I don't have the time to waste on them. But I will NOT sit on my hands and beg them to love me and maybe throw me a donation if they decide I am worthy. I am not going to submit to the whims of selfish reprobates with inflated senses of entitlement who think authors don't deserve to be compensated for their work.
I am not your slave to entertain you until you decide to feed me.
If I donate money to a charity, that does not by default mean every person who wants my money is entitled to it. If I allow my friend to borrow my car, that does not be default mean every person who wants to borrow my care in entitled to it. If I have sex with my boyfriend, that does not mean I have an obligation to have sex with every man that wants it. Because my body and my car and my money, just like my book, are MINE. Not YOURS. And I am the one who gets to decide what does and does not happen to them.
It is nothing more than selfish entitlement to think it is OK to strip an author of their rights simply because you want something. It is selfish entitlement to think it is OK to strip an author of their rights simply because you feel like uploading their work to a pirate site. It is selfish entitlement to expect authors to kiss the asses of pirates and hope maybe the 'exposure' will help in the end.
Don't have money? Go to your library, where the books are obtained legally. Amazon has thousands of books available for free, legally. Project Gutenberg has thousands of books available for free, legally. Being poor is not an excuse for piracy. I've been poor. I never stole from other people. I made due with what I could afford. Nobody is going to die of starvation or disease if they can't read my book. Nobody is going to be able to use my book to overthrow an oppressive regime. Nobody is going to use my book to end human trafficking or war. I would love to think I am so important that people's lives depend on reading my book. But that isn't true. Pirates aren't pirating life-saving information. They are pirating Fifty Shades of Grey. Let's not pretend it is some noble cause.
And don't you dare imply that I don't "lend a hand" to people simply because I recognizes selfish entitlement for what it is. Piracy is not about helping people. Pirates don't give a damn about poverty or war or human suffering. They care about themselves and 'getting over' on the system. They are overcompensating for their own person failures as human beings, and it makes them feel powerful and in control. They are bullies who abuse creators because they lack the ability to create themselves, and then feign victimhood when called out for it.
Pirates are not "loveable humans", unless you mean that in the way most sociopaths can be charming in order to manipulate others. Pirates are selfish, self-centered, ego-centric people who don't care whether or not an author makes money. They don't care if the person they are pirating is wealthy or dying from cancer. They don't care if the person is a bestseller or a struggling author who can barely feed her kids. They don't care because they think the only people who matter are themselves.