Interesting People mailing list archives
Re: BitTorrent now being used for piracy of textbooks
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2008 17:23:58 -0700
________________________________________ From: Geoff Kuenning [geoff () cs hmc edu] Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2008 7:52 PM To: David Farber Cc: ip () v2 listbox com Subject: Re: BitTorrent now being used for piracy of textbooks While I sympathize with the sticker shock on textbooks (and try to take prices into account when I assign books for my classes), I doubt that the publishers are, in Kris Kirby's words, "wallowing in currency". Nor, even if they are getting rich, does that justify stealing copies. I'm neither an author nor a publisher, but it strikes me that textbook publishing isn't likely to be a get-rich-quick business. For every successful book, there are dozens or hundreds that only sell a few hundred copies. The market demands books that are printed in multiple colors, often in a fairly frivolous manner (e.g., blue subheadings, color-coded marginal notes, etc.). Technical books require extensive proofreading and fancy illustrations, few of which are produced in final form by the author. Technical fields also move very fast; I'm currently using a book from 2003 and desperately awaiting a new edition that will be outdated the moment it hits the shelves. There are a number of things that can be done by both faculty and students to help cut textbook costs. But piracy isn't the answer. -- Geoff Kuenning geoff () cs hmc edu http://www.cs.hmc.edu/~geoff/ If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be research, would it? -- Albert Einstein ------------------------------------------- Archives: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
Current thread:
- BitTorrent now being used for piracy of textbooks David Farber (Jul 01)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: BitTorrent now being used for piracy of textbooks David Farber (Jul 02)
- Re: BitTorrent now being used for piracy of textbooks David Farber (Jul 03)
- Re: BitTorrent now being used for piracy of textbooks David Farber (Jul 03)
- Re: BitTorrent now being used for piracy of textbooks David Farber (Jul 03)
- Re: BitTorrent now being used for piracy of textbooks David Farber (Jul 03)