Wednesday, April 09, 2008

I've been faked!

So many times I have railed about fakery and how it damages serious paranormal investigation. So many times I've shouted about the 'debunking' which is nothing of the kind, just a demonstration of how things could be faked. Duh. We knew that. We know there are truckloads of fakes cashing in on the paranormal. Proving how they do it still doesn't make everyone a fake.

Well, now I've been faked. Me.

A seller on Ebay is selling copyrighted materials through that site. Including copies of 'Ghost Hunting for the Sensible Investigator', although he's misspelled the title. Seems he bought a download version from Lulu, printed and bound it and posted it for sale. A few have bought it. Thanks to Beth Brown (comment on previous post) for pointing this out.

I don't know why anyone's buying his pirated copies. He includes a link to the book on Lulu, where you can get an original for the same price or a download for pennies. Yet some have bought it.

Should I be furious or flattered? That little book surely isn't worth the effort and the risk of legal action involved in pirating it?

Well, I never expected to make much on the book. He's not costing me shedloads of money. I'd be inclined to say 'the hell with it' and leave him alone, but I'm not the only one he's doing this to. Some of the others are, quite justifiably, enraged by this. Some ghosthunting groups depend on income from books like this to help finance their investigations.

So, more for those than for myself, I'll have to report to Ebay that they have a seller trafficking copyrighted materials through their site. It's up to them to do something about that. They're usually pretty quick to dodge potential lawsuits.

Sorry, matey, but what you're doing is illegal. Best stop before one of the authors you're ripping off gets litiginous on you.

Even so, it's nice to know someone thinks I'm worth copying. Makes me feel all Rolex inside.

4 comments:

Romulus Crowe said...

He's been shut down already. I thought Ebay might not take kindly to that sort of thing.

So I've edited the post to take his username out. It's only fair to give the guy a second chance.

Anonymous said...

I'd say congratulations on being copied. How many writers can say they've had their book ripped off?

astrologymemphis.blogspot.com said...

Wow, what a position to be in. I'd be flattered and outraged simultaneously, too. Someone needs to come up with a new word to describe that combination. Now I must say what a little shit the guy is for doing it. I'm glad they got him quickly.

Romulus Crowe said...

I bet he's not the only one. I'd say anyone who has any kind of book available in electronic format should keep a close eye on Ebay.

I'd spend more time there but it tends to be expensive...

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