Digital Shoplifting From Bookstores?

ipandithurts writes "According to a report from Tokyo via IOL, Japanese publishers have launched a campaign to stop 'digital shoplifters.' These 'digital shoplifters' are using cellphones to photograph magazine pages in bookstores, rather than buying them. 'Digital shoplifting is becoming a big problem as camera-equipped mobile handsets are spreading fast and their quality is improving greatly,' said Kenji Takahashi, an official at the Japan Magazine Publishers Association. Will entry into a bookstore soon include a 'cell-phone patdown?'"

Comments

I don't see a point.

[aerojad]

If you're going to stand in a bookstore, taking 500 pictures of the latest fav-novel of your choice, and *not* get caught, then you probably deserve to get away with the pictures.

On the other hand, if someone didn't spend so much money on the cell phone to take 600 pictures of a book, they probably could.. well.. buy the book.

Re:a little info on magazine selling in japan

[BJH]

Most magazines actually do have subscriptions - take a look at some of the computer magazines, for example Software Design. It's not very much cheaper (usually only the cost of consumption tax, if that).

The reason for that is the way book distribution works in Japan. The publisher sends the book data to the printer, where it's printed; it's then shipped to the toritsugi company, which is basically a distributor. From there, it's sent to however many bookstores the publisher has paid for it to be sent to. Quite often, if the bookstore doesn't want the books it has been sent, they just leave them in the box and send them right back (at no cost to the bookstore).

The problem is that publishers have no (easy) way of getting their books out to bookstores other than through the toritsugi, with which they have a rather uneasy relationship. If the publisher starts selling magazines directly to consumers by subscription at a discount, the toritsugi will start getting annoyed with them and may increase the cost for the publisher to distribute their other products. Thus, the publisher is blocked from offering cheaper subscriptions.