Normally what I write about on this blog concerns background checks and employment screening. As the Co-Founder of Corra Group I am constantly monitoring news sites and newsletters for interesting stories about background checks and pre-employment screening. I read blogs that deal with recruiting and employment issues as well as publications that reflect on business in general and the current state of the economy.
But I am also an author. And as I such I found this posting on CTV.CA, in Edmonton, Canada to be most interesting. According to the article, Google searches for illegal downloading sites for books and periodicals is up fifty percent. Like the music industry, the film industry, and other aspects of the entertainment business, ebooks may now fall prey to freeloading downloaders. I refrain from railing about it as my laments and admonishment to be better behaved citizens is probably an exercise in futility. I am aware that copyrights and the copyright infringements is not a major concern for a lot of people, especially in this bad economy. People want things for free. They feel entitled and don’t really want to pay the cost. This holds true for trinkets and baubles, entertainment content, and programs the government may offer. Nobody wants to pay.
With regard to this article, Attributor created a series of fake download websites and monitored how many people searched these sites for illegal downloads. It should be noted that out of every five people who came to the site in search of illegal ebook downloads, one of them , or twenty percent, ultimately clicked on a portal that took them to Amazon or another site where they ordered the ebook legitimately.
The company is doing some advanced work so the next time they run this test they can better assess the full extent of ebook piracy and what it may cause in dollar amounts the publishing industry.
As for employers, they not only have to contend with their employees surfing the net, linking to pornography sites, shopping on line, sending questionable emails, and social networking, but they may contend with illegal downloads of music, film, and now ebooks, which could prove embarrassing. Additionally, the employer may yet be liable should lawsuits arise because of people utilizing the employer computers for illegal downloads.
In all, it is worth noting.
