So unless you're in that Great Big Exception To the Rule, it's a fair chance that you could get to Fictionwise, or B&N, or Sony, or even any of the myriad independent publishers, select that title, use Paypal to pay for it, download the copy, and NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW.
Minor nit: actually, you can't do that.
Fictionwise et al have lately started implementing geographical rights restrictions in software; if your credit card or paypal account is geared to country A and the book is only licensed for sale in country B, you can't buy it. (Even if you're physically located in country A at the time and could walk to a bookshop two blocks away and buy the hardcopy. As I discovered last month.)
This is of course a problem with the IP regime under which publication is licensed -- the trans-Atlantic rights split in particular -- but it's a problem that didn't formerly whack consumers in the face. Pre-internet, if you wanted a book that was published overseas, you either found a specialist bookstore who imported grey-market copies, or -- more likely -- you didn't know the book existed. Today, though, you get to the "pay for your shopping cart" stage before the geographical rights issue hits you. Doubleplusungood ...
no subject
Date: 11 Jun 2009 08:51 am (UTC)Minor nit: actually, you can't do that.
Fictionwise et al have lately started implementing geographical rights restrictions in software; if your credit card or paypal account is geared to country A and the book is only licensed for sale in country B, you can't buy it. (Even if you're physically located in country A at the time and could walk to a bookshop two blocks away and buy the hardcopy. As I discovered last month.)
This is of course a problem with the IP regime under which publication is licensed -- the trans-Atlantic rights split in particular -- but it's a problem that didn't formerly whack consumers in the face. Pre-internet, if you wanted a book that was published overseas, you either found a specialist bookstore who imported grey-market copies, or -- more likely -- you didn't know the book existed. Today, though, you get to the "pay for your shopping cart" stage before the geographical rights issue hits you. Doubleplusungood ...