Typical greedy rats, they don't want to pay a fee to EBAY for the bootleg books. They want it all for themselves. So they used eBay to build up customers and get publicity, enough to launch their own Internet business.
Yes, thanks to EBAY, the Sri Lanka cartel has stockpiled email addresses on EVERY PERSON WHO EVER BOUGHT FROM THEM; they are directing hundreds of thousands of customers to their new piracy site.
The emails begin like this:
How bold does it get?
Well, thanks to Amazon, Google, Ebay and Wikipedia, it can get very bold. Internet giants have, for over a decade, BLOCKED any new laws that would let copyright owners shut down rogue websites or let ISP's block the sites.
Ebay's coy "we're just a venue" means they don't HAVE to patrol their site and remove violations; just do it if the item is reported. They can take their time removing auctions, too, which gives them and their bootleggers extra revenue.
Ebay also has no fixed rule on when or IF a bootlegger gets suspended.
We've seen how billionaire "Kim Dotcom," rode Megaupload to glory and is STILL fighting extradition to America. Pirate Bay is still in business. Many bootleggers know that if they set up a website in a Communist country, and use "Google Wallet" and not PayPal, they can start raking in big money.
Let's take a closer look at the website run by somebody with the last name of Aravinda and its intent, libraryllc.com:
Yes, they take PAYPAL and CREDIT CARDS.
WHERE did all this come from?
Partly, it came from the neglect of assholes like Stephen King and George R.R. Martin and J.K. Rowling and R.L. Stine and pudgy E.L. James among others, who spend their time twittering on TWITTER or just puttering around the house, and ignoring anyone who contacts them and says "Send DMCA's to EBAY and stop the abuse."
Partly, it came from the neglect of asshole book publishers who either don't have a "report piracy" link on their websites, or are too cheap to even have an intern send in DMCA's. If they do anything, they rely on companies such as Digimarc who in my experience routinely ignore eBay reports submitted to them.
As a VeRO rep for various authors and celebrities, I've seen the Sri Lanka cartel's abuse and have tried to alert publishers and VeRO reps. Here's a typical email I got:
Dear Mr. Smith,
We appreciate the information you have been providing and we continue to take the appropriate steps to address those instances of copyright infringement. But you are not authorized to take enforcement measures on behalf of Penguin Random House or our publications, and should not be contacting Digimarc directly regarding our copyrighted works. Please immediately cease and desist from acting or advocating on behalf of those works. Thank you.
Best regards,
Andrea
It seems this publisher was only paying Digimarc to monitor CERTAIN books, or Digimarc was annoyed at hearing, "It's been a week since you allegedly sent in a DMCA. In my experience, eBay responds within 24 hours. Did you really send in a report? It's important to quash the Sri Lanka cartel, and they are thriving on these "Games of Thrones" bootlegs."
The result is that the Sri Lanka cartel was able to get over 100 different fake names on eBay, and while I was able to report them again and again (Ebay does have a rule against the sale of digital downloads) eBay remains slow to remove auctions and rarely suspends an account.
The Sri Lanka cartel rotates their identities to make sure no account gets suspended. If a new account gets warnings, they sneak back to use an older one. Only if an account gets enough warnings that a suspension is possible, do they abandon it entirely.
And now they've got enough customer emails and enough money to start their own website.
Will Penguin Random House sic DIGIMARC on them? Will it be up to the book companies that DO care about piracy and ARE responsive to warnings, to spend the money and time, so that both they AND lazier companies and authors are covered?
It is amazing that the book industry, which is supposed to be run by literate, SMART people, did not learn from the destruction of the music business and the record stores, and try to go after the pirates as soon as ePub and mobi and PDF files on books began appearing.
It is astonishing that while there's an RIAA for the record world, and "movie czar" Jack Valenti helped lobby and guide the film industry, the book world can't get it together. The book world has an anemic bunch of clods running pathetic writer's unions, and a bunch of dimwits, illiterates and fools in key executive positions. Some of them make more in a year than a hundred of the authors on their backlist. And they do NOTHING to earn that money. They are parasites.
Meanwhile, eBay is still a place where the Sri Lanka cartel prey on whatever book companies DON'T care, and whatever authors DON'T care.
The ads always state this is an email delivery of an ebook:
Anyone literate, anyone with a brain, can figure out all the buzz words in these ads and report the auctions. Most auctions even say "ebook" in the auction title, but if they don't, well, an experienced VeRO rep (such as me) can easily find them. The weak spot is that the sellers MUST explain to the bidder that for the bargain price, they are not getting a "real book" but a download.
Ebay bidders think these things are legit. Otherwise how could they be on fabulous eBay? Ebay bidders think the authors and publishers have somehow made deals, and are getting royalties. They are not.
But when Simon and Schuster offers $250,000 to some asshole named Milo, for a useless piece of provocateur garbage, it sends a message that all publishers and all authors are so rich they can throw money away. Yeah, big homely Stephen King ain't suffering much. He can sit on his ass and tweet-tweet-tweet. Flakey Joanne Fluke, who writes dopey "cozy mysteries" with cake and pie in the titles, has all the money she needs.
But a lot of authors are resorting to self-publishing, and a lot have day jobs because they'll take a $500 advance.
Meanwhile every day some members of the Sri Lanka cartel gather new bidders for off-eBay sales. Among the latest, here are their names and a sample auction number:
You'll see quite a few entries below, on the Sri Lanka cartel.
Let's hope that finally, "they've gone too far," and by contacting thousands of eBay bidders, and starting up this website, "appropriate action" will be taken.
Let's hope that the literate publishers start to understand how much MORE they can lose thanks to piracy. It isn't bad enough bookstores are disappearing? Authors can't make money autographing books? Amazon and eBay instantly have used copies of books available so that people don't have to buy a new one that gives the publisher and author a royalty? PIRACY has to be part of this, and the bold piracy from the Sri Lanka cartel?
I have given PayPal the names of the above sellers, and urged them to investigate all of them, and SHUT DOWN the accounts. This will help prevent them from getting on eBay. BUT...the main push should be coming from the publishers. It should also come from authors who, instead of Tweeting idiocy to their followers should be doing their part for their industry and their fellow authors. I know as a VeRO rep that even the cheapest and most compulsive eBay thieves give up when they get caught again and again, and when eBay makes them get an entirely new account with fresh contact information.
If a few publishers look into this website, they will find ways of removing it or cutting off the way they get paid.
And if more authors checked eBay once a week and filed DMCA's on their books, the Sri Lanka cartel would be history, like Rommel and Mengele.
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