There are a number of sites that offer illegal copies of texts. According to an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, sites such as TextBook Torrents offer over 5,000 full texts in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.
Textbook publishers have known this day would come. They actively search the Web for sites offering illegal downloads. When one is found, the site hosting the file is asked to remove it. No lawsuits are threatened, which differs from the way the RIAA goes about its business. According to the article, between 60,000 and 250,000 illegal texts are found online EVERY week.
Here's a quote from the homepage of Textbook Torrents:
On Friday 6/27, we received a request from Pearson Education, one of the bigger textbook publishers, listing 78 torrents that they wanted disabled. While they are acting on extremely shaky legal ground, we are not in a position to fight a legal battle with the organization. As a result, in the interest of allowing the continued existence of this place, I have acceded to their request.
1) What could the publishers do to solve this problem? Should it even be addressed?
2) What do you think motivates students to share copies of texts they may have purchased?
3) Why do you think college texts are more likely to be uploaded illegally then novels or non-fiction books?
4) Why do you think the publishing industry isn't taking an overly aggressive approach to removing illegally uploaded texts?
19 comments:
The cost of textbooks are, in my opinion, a bit overpriced. This is what drives students to share and even download illegal copies.
I have seen patent/trademark lawsuits by Pearson Education against illegal sales of foreign editions of textbooks. These are generally printed in India and shipped to the US. When caught selling these texts, I have seen lawsuits won in the millions of dollars range.
I feel that texts are overpriced and if you can use them for free while you need them, you should but don't sell them. There are plenty of people who buy them. And if they are uploaded online that's should be on the person who has uploaded them. As long as no one is selling or making any kind of money with patent/trademark texts, sharing is caring :)
@ Beth,
I'm assuming the texts from India were published illegally.
@Jaime,
I would bet there are plenty of publishers who would disagree with your caring is sharing statement.
Yes they would.
Prof:
Yes, they were illegally printed.
It's a shame that textbooks are so expensive. It prohibits many people from being able to use them. Libraries are one option, but I'd like to see some type of discount available, especially for students textbooks.
While I don't agree with illegal use, I do understand it. If I had to choose between buying a book or not taking a course, it would be a tough decision.
I'd also like to see a better way of obtaining used textbooks, hey, we could save a tree or two in the process.
Perhaps publishers need to rethink their pricing and find ways to reduce prices such as downloads, where they're not incurring the printing/paper costs.
There's always a better way, just need some up-and-coming entrepeneur to figure it out...
@ Marsha- I have to agree with your theory with the expense of books for students, and one area that I have always pondered is "why do the instructors/professor's agree to use them, which supports the company's publishing at such a high expense. why don't professors start providing material the professor's write, which would force the out of control textbook prices to drop. Don't you feel that this would also reduce the online illegal sharing? Am I the only one that thought of this? I have to personally thank the professor's that take the time to care about what a student pays for these textbooks by creating packets and selling at cost.
Amen Marsha.
Another thought that goes into the cost though is that the authors do get a certain percentage, and I think are entitled to that.
@Marsha,
I experimented with offering students an online version of a text at 1/2 the price. Only 1-2 students in each class participated. Some students just like the feel of a real textbook or are intimidated by the technology.
Publishers don't make any money from used texts so they publish new editions even when they aren't necessary. For example the Office 2003 version of the course text had a first, second and "Platinum" edition.
Let's say the college decided that we would use the same edition of a text for five years. This wouldn't work because once a publisher creates a new edition, the old one is no longer available in bulk.
In fairness to the publishers, it probably costs a lot of money to write a text. Someone has to write the book, someone has to create the assignments and additional learning materials.
However, it's difficult to justify a cost of $100 or more when you can buy a How to use MS Office 2007 book in Borders for $30.
@Yvonne,
Here's a Website written by a professor at Georgia Tech. It contains links to downloadable FREE math texts.
http://www.math.gatech.edu/~cain/textbooks/onlinebooks.html
Textbooks are so overpriced. A new version comes out every month it seems and if you want to sell them back to the bookstore you can forget it. A new version most likely has already come out making your book obselet. I would most definately purchase an illegal book because although i dont think its criminal in nature i know what its like to be a college student with limited funds. Also i know that the students who upload illegal copies of these texts are in some way feeling like they finally got retribution.
As a working student, I will save as much as I could. In my own opinion, it's a shame that textbooks are so expensive. This site will help us to experience the benefits of having the books without spending a lot.
I know it is illegal but this will helps a lot of students especially those who want to save. A student who really wants to learn but don't have enough money will do anything just to have the information that he will need for his studies.
After reading the article Illegal but Free Online Texts, I was surprised to learn about the growing problem of downloading textbooks on line. I was astonished to hear the numbers, as high as 250,000 files in a given two-week period. Textbook piracy has become an international problem. In Asia, it is a well-established industry. From my prior experience, working at Seton Hall University bookstore, to my present day experience, I have learned that college textbooks are expensive, especially science texts. College students can spend an average of $900 a year on books. Economics is clearly a factor in encouraging students to break the law. I do not feel that students should upload from sources TextBook Torrents or any other illegal website. An alternative is to look for bookstore deals, buy used books. A new physical chemistry textbook cost $132, is $75.58 on Amizon.com. A British on line bookseller offering some textbooks for a fraction of the retail cost is CountryBookshop.com. Some colleges are offering textbook rental programs that let students rent out books for a sememster for a flat fee. Many college professors encourage their students to share and photocopy from texztbooks, although this is illegal, publishers are reluctant to take legal action. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, Princeton University store is among 10 college bookstores participating in a pilot program to sell digital textbooks. The store offers about 10 digital books for about 33% off retail price. Students buy a card with a special code to download a PDF version of the book from www.digitaltextbook.com. I believe these are all good ways to save on textbook costs rather than download illegally.
I personally couldn't learn with an online text. I don't have the patience to sit at a computer and stare for hours on end..my eyes always end up hurting me anyways. Plus, I like to textbook so I can add to my growing library collection. You never know when you might need to go back to them as a refresher.
But, I can see how this can be appealing to those who just don't have the $$$ to spend on books. I know how it hurts to have to charge $280 on a credit for a book & then get hit with interest.
I think that textbook companies are put in a very difficult situation in this new age of the internet and illegal downloading. I think that the illegal downloading of textbooks can me monitored, but in reality there is no way to solve it completely because people will always find a way around it. The same thing can be said for the illegal downloading of music that has gone on over the past couple of years. Companies are fighting people that participate in this act, and even have gone so far as bringing about lawsuits against these individuals that break the law. I personally would rather have the textbook not online but actually in the book form because I think that it is easier to study from it. My solution for textbook companies to solve this problem would be to lower the price of the textbooks for students, and then maybe people would not try to illegally download textbooks online.
school books are way too expensive. do i have empathy for the makers of the books? no way. enough people buy them for it to be a very profitable business. it is the same as the tons of other things that are being copied-movies, xbox 360 games etc.they should not be copied due to legal reasons-it is not worth the trouble if you are caught. a better way to work around it is to buy books on amazon or ebay during a slow book buying period. that is probably the best way to get a deal on books.
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