# Good article on EBOOK PIRACY



## Mikeyboy_esq (May 30, 2017)

I found this article to be very useful, so I thought I'd share in case anyone else is interested in how to remove websites with eBook piracy. https://kindlepreneur.com/ebook-piracy/


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## PiP (Sep 15, 2017)

A belated, thank you, Mike. I've also shared via Twitter


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## Mikeyboy_esq (Sep 15, 2017)

PiP,
I'm at the point where I feel like those sites that claim to have my ebook available for free (without my permission) are mostly scams and they probably don't have my eBook.  Whenever someone logs into those sites to get my book, I bet they will probably get a virus or have their credit card charged. Even if those sites do actually have my book and offer it for free, I don't think the people who visit those sites and search for illegal pirated stuff are willing to spend their $ to buy my book anyway, so its not like I'm losing money on a sale to them.  

And I've heard it said many times that the most common threat to an author is not piracy, but obscurity.  

For those reasons, I no longer bother to do take-down notices anymore.  I'd rather spend my time doing something productive.  But that is just my 2 cents.  If anyone does want to pursue the pirate websites, the article above is a nice place to start.


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## LeeC (Sep 15, 2017)

I've had this happen to me a couple times. At first I was pissed, and went through all the steps including Google and the USDOJ. Guess what, nobody responded, and nobody did anything. Another author that had this happen told me, that because both sites were registered in Panama, where new sites go up before old ones can be taken down, it was a losing battle.

The real problem with such sites is that their main purpose is to download malware onto Windows PCs. Not a big problem for Mac users — I even have to OK the use of Flash player on a site because Apple found a vulnerability in it. Anyway, I also posted warnings here and on social media. 

Another thought came to mind though, compliments of the very successful Microsoft. Back when MS was doing anything they could to increase market share, they only gave software piracy lip service. With so many obtaining pirated copies of Windows applications, the competition was beat down. I won't get into any of the stories. I also noticed in Mark Coker's [owner of Smashwords] book that some authors intentionally seed their book on pirate sites. The idea being that the additional publicity far outweighs the loss. Don't know how well that works as I'm not that desperate ;-)

It all lends credibility to:
“_Life is nothing but a competition to be the criminal rather than the victim._”  ~  Bertrand Russell


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