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Dear friends,
Scribd is is the Netflix of books, right? Neat! Also nope, bc they encourage rampant piracy of books & don't allow users to report copyright infringement--only pubs & authors can do so. I've started collecting texts here: https://www.scribd.com/lists/23828427/pirated
Scribd is is the Netflix of books, right? Neat! Also nope, bc they encourage rampant piracy of books & don't allow users to report copyright infringement--only pubs & authors can do so. I've started collecting texts here: https://www.scribd.com/lists/23828427/pirated
I can't do this all day--though I quite literally could put in an entire 24 hours and still not have tackled every pirated book on there, especially since they're in all languages--but my list is a good place for you to start.
I am BEGGING YOU--look through the list for your name, for your friends' names, for books by the publishers you work for, for languages you speak. Share the list and the page for reporting copyright infringement.
I really think the only way Scribd will give a fuck is if they get hugely bombarded in one short span of hours. And I would just personally feel really cool and famous if I were the person who started the fire. I hate when tech bros take advantage of easily eroded civil rights.
Again, that link for my collection of #piratedbooks available on #Scribd is here. There are famous authors and debuts, adult/YA/kids, white and nonwhite....no discrimination here! Scribd gladly accepts piracy of all backgrounds. https://www.scribd.com/lists/23828427/pirated
You can report infringement of your personal (or your employer's) intellectual property here: https://support.scribd.com/hc/en-us/articles/210129146-REPORT-COPYRIGHT-INFRINGEMENTS-AND-ABUSE-HERE
Oh, also! The easiest way to look for books that are there illegally is to search a name/title/phrase, then click "documents" (that's user-uploaded), then filter by 100+ pages to eliminate book club guides & other totally legal documents.
"Books" are there legally via relationships with publishers, though I can't say whether or not the financials of it all truly benefit authors.
I will absolutely talk another day about how Scribd is also complete trash at metadata, cataloging, reader's advisory, etc. etc., because that's less about ethics and more about the cultural phenomenon of tech bros "reinventing" intellectual culture by de-intellectualizing it.
NB this list I posted is heavily weighted towards kidlit/YA because that's what I know, and therefore that's a lot of what I encountered naturally by searching for books I wanted to read/assign to my students, but I'm certain there is a ton of shit I'm missing.
I literally at one point just went down my Facebook friends list and typed in those names one at a time. And various other methods. But I swear I'm going to stop now because I reeeeeally need to get work done and hold office hours.
What's funny is that I probably wouldn't be as loud about this if Scribd had hired me (or at least responded) for the job I applied for, because then I could Make Change From The Inside, so lolololol sucks to be them
*waves hopefully to @PublishersWkly @sljournal @HornBook @yalsa @wearealsc @ALALibrary @KirkusReviews @ALA_Booklist @PENamerica @scbwi *
