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However, don't be under any illusion that the pirates are
good-hearted philanthropists taking from the rich and giving to the
poor. The best known pirate site sells advertising - a small banner
reportedly costs $5,000 a month, and a larger one $10,000 a month.
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Actually, most pirates ARE taking from the rich and giving to the poor (or the ones who make the excuses for not buying or unable to buy as in this situatation)... its the site owners who _help_ in the piracy that make money.
Let me give you an example, "Adam" buys your book/cd/ or a video, "rips" it into digital format and uploads it onto...say... thepiratebay (since thats where you found your book's links)
Adam does not make a cent by doing so, and he is actually the _most_ important link in the chain, coz if he does not share... the site offering the .torrent links cant offer the book, hence no visitors, hence no advertising..
The torrent sites, in the excuse of bandwidth and maintainence charges either ask for "donations" or take up advertising... and in the case of the pirate bay, if you take a step back from the whole moral issues, it does make sense as they have hundreds of live torrents at any given time (and i am not taking about small size ebooks.... movies, DVDs, games... we are talking gigs per file..not mb anymore) even though the actual files are not going directly through their servers with over 3-4mil visitors _per day_ and tracking those hundreds of torrents and forums... thats gotto take substantial computing power and costs (*not that i am taking up for them*)
In a sick sort of way, they are acting like your publisher except they are not giving the OP (Adam) a cent for "providing" the material.
How many sites do you know of that have 3-4 mil visitors per day and does not ask for a huge pot of $$ for advertising?
Another example:
In India, China, Dubai and a whole host of other countries & cities, people download movies (posted by guys like Adam above) and then make illegal copies on CDs and DVDs etc and sell them cheap pretty much on the roads... here again the people who originally posted the stuff dont get a cent...the ones who make the CDs are the ones who make the money.
Just wanted to clear up the misconception that the main people who start copying (RIAA/MPAA slang "pirates") are making money. So the real rogues... or pirates... are the siteowners, but when the site itself is named "thepiratebay" its not exactly like they dont already know it.
Cheers!
R
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- The faulty interface lies between the chair and the keyboard.
- Creativity is great, but plagiarism is faster!
- Smile, everyone loves a moron. :-)
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