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Spanish Police Arrest Their First Ever eBook Pirate (torrentfreak.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Spain's Ministry of the Interior has announced the first ever arrest of an eBook pirate. The suspect is said to have uploaded more than 11,000 literary works online, many on the same day as their official release. More than 400 subsequent sites are said to have utilized his releases. The investigation began in 2015 following a complaint from the Spanish Reproduction Rights Centre (CEDRO), a non-profit association of authors and publishers of books, magazines, newspapers and sheet music. According to the Ministry, CEDRO had been tracking the suspect but were only able to identify him by an online pseudonym. However, following investigations carried out by the police, his real identity was discovered.
As an author, I don't have a problem with someone who wants to read my work for free. That's what libraries are for, and places like the Baen Free Library get it right. If someone asks me, I'll probably send them a copy myself.
I have a bit of a problem with some misguided soul uploading my work to online sites dedicated to distributing stuff they don't have the rights to.
I have a major problem if either the uploader or said distributing site is making money off of distributing my work, unless they're giving me a piece of the action. I suspect that very few of those sites are in it for charitable reasons, and are getting money for it from somewhere.