Another plagiarist at Amazon

this is hard to grok--s6

Ya know, I would have sworn I saw another name on the cover when I saw Stranger in a Strange Land at the Library of Congress's "100 Books that Influenced America" exhibition.

Then again, I'm getting older and the eyesight isn't what it was. *grin*

I guess that's the problem with the internet these days...

*feels betrayed and misled*

Geez, at least plagiarize something in the public domain.

no time to say more, must go kindle Captain Blood under my own name. //sarcasm.

I believe all of "his" books have now been removed from Amazon but I bet they're up elsewhere.

It seems that every time I get online I hear of a new bout of plagiarism.

Writing your own book is just getting to be more and more radical of an act, isn't it?

Sheesh, with all the publicity about recent plagiarism, why in the heck do people continue to plagiarize? It's almost like they think they are different, that they won't get caught.

The thief has three books on Smashwords. Ibnul Jaif Farabi has been very busy indeed this week.https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/fabsruet

I did a 5-minute Google search using phrases from the book descriptions and found them selling on Amazon and eBay--all with different authors.

I've reported such to Smashwords.

If others have an account there, please consider reporting him.

Illegal copy: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/181134/?reported=1

Real book: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Beijing-Welcomes-You-Tom-Scocca-NEW-/270923990357

Illegal: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/181129

Real author: http://www.amazon.ca/dp/0143117963/

Illegal: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/181313

Real authors: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0014Y09O8/?tag=absowrit-20

I expect this asshat also has books up on Nook and various other ebook venues. would someone else kindly check into it? I don't know all the others.

Nope. Nothing at B&N's nook store.

I know I keep linking to the site, but Plagiarism Today really should be on the radar of people looking at these continued (and more obvious by the day) infringements.

James D. Macdonald said:

http://www.cherryh.com/WaveWithoutAShore/?p=3896

Who knew that Ibnul Jaif Farabi was the author of Stranger in a Strange Land?

Click to expand...

The only remarkable thing about mass plagiarism through Amazon and other sites is that there isn't more of it.

It's simple to do, safe from prosecution, and the sites are all set up to make it easy. Get outed, just change your name and keep going.

Another book that sounds strangely familiar....

http://www.ielmira.com/index.php?/topic/33425-rendezvouz-with-zama-by-ibnul-jaif-farabi/

Title: RENDEZVOUZ WITH ZAMA
Author: Ibnul Jaif Farabi

At first, only a few things are known about the celestial object that astronomers dub Zama. It is huge, weighing more than ten trillion tons. And it is hurtling through the solar system at inconceivable speed. Then a space probe confirms the unthinkable: Zama is no natural object. It is, incredibly, an interstellar spacecraft.Space explorers and planet-bound scientists alike prepare for mankind's first encounter with alien intelligence. It will kindle their wildest dreams...and fan their...

Click to expand...

Did this guy seriously think no one would notice?

I can understand this if they were plagiarising less well known books. You know, ones that might not be instantly recognisable to anyone who picks it up, reads the cover and thinks 'hang on... didn't someone else write that?' Then there is a possibility you might just get away with it. But copying verbatim books by authors who are either still alive (and therefore capable of filing suits as Scalzi has just reported doing on his blog) and well known or the writer of classics... it just beggars belief.

There should be prosecution for this other than a civil case (which are often expensive and don't always succeed...). At the very least, every penny of all the money earned through Amazon by the plagiarised books should go to the original author or their estate.

And I agree with what Scalzi says in his blog - Amazon may need to look at what they allow to be uploaded with more care. Though, with the sheer volume of stuff being uploaded daily, I can't see this being an easy or cheap option.

At least in the old days, a plagiarist still had to type everything out again from scratch before they published it...

areteus said:

But copying verbatim books by authors who are either still alive (and therefore capable of filing suits as Scalzi has just reported doing on his blog) and well known or the writer of classics... it just beggars belief.

Click to expand...

What lawsuit? I just checked Scalzi's blog, and all he did was file a DMCA claim, which is a take-down notice; it's not a lawsuit.

areteus said:

There should be prosecution for this other than a civil case (which are often expensive and don't always succeed...).

Click to expand...

In the US, copyright infringement is a criminal, not civil, offence. See here.

Also, can you cite cases of actual copyright infringement that didn't succeed? The only ones I've ever heard of are cases where copyright infringement didn't actually happen (the cases against JK Rowling and Stephen King spring to mind). In the case concerning my work, the evidence was so strong the case was settled out of court.

areteus said:

And I agree with what Scalzi says in his blog - Amazon may need to look at what they allow to be uploaded with more care. Though, with the sheer volume of stuff being uploaded daily, I can't see this being an easy or cheap option.

Click to expand...

Yes, Amazon really does need to take a look at its business practices because the way things stand now, it's only a matter of time before someone does heft a lawsuit at them.

It not being easy or cheap is irrelevant; businesses must comply with the law, and doing so is a cost of doing business. GM, for example, doesn't get to sell cars without seatbelts and airbags because including them isn't easy or cheap.

Susan Littlefield said:

Sheesh, with all the publicity about recent plagiarism, why in the heck do people continue to plagiarize? It's almost like they think they are different, that they won't get caught.

Click to expand...

I wrote a blog post about it a couple of months back. I'm convinced that deep inside, they want to be caught. I think many of them are actually doing the plagiarising for attention (how many of them actually make much money from it?) The storm that ensues when they are caught is the ultimate payoff of attention, even if it is bad attention. And these days of course they can just vanish afterwards and then come back with a new online identity and start the whole thing over again.

So the idea of "shaming" them really doesn't mean much. A) they like it and B) they probably aren't over-endowed with shame in the first place, or they wouldn't have done it.

A lot of authors might have a hard time giving a short, specific answer to the question, "Where do you get your ideas?" Not this guy!

Becky Black said:

I wrote a blog post about it a couple of months back. I'm convinced that deep inside, they want to be caught. I think many of them are actually doing the plagiarising for attention (how many of them actually make much money from it?) The storm that ensues when they are caught is the ultimate payoff of attention, even if it is bad attention. And these days of course they can just vanish afterwards and then come back with a new online identity and start the whole thing over again.

So the idea of "shaming" them really doesn't mean much. A) they like it and B) they probably aren't over-endowed with shame in the first place, or they wouldn't have done it.

Click to expand...

That would be assuming these people are like you and me. But I'd say most of these plagiarizers are not from a Western country, but sit somewhere in India, China, Brasil or Africa and see this as a quick way to make some cash. It is the same as a spammer who sends out penis enlargement stuff - the return rates are miniscule, yet they still send out billions of these each year.

They are purely money driven. Make enough cash before getting shut down, then open another account and start over.

They really don't care if they get caught or how much media storm there is about it.

Becky Black said:

So the idea of "shaming" them really doesn't mean much. A) they like it and B) they probably aren't over-endowed with shame in the first place, or they wouldn't have done it.

Click to expand...

Overendowed With Shame is my new band name.

Pyekett said:

Overendowed With Shame is my new band name.

Click to expand...

Ahem. Wouldn't 'Underendowed With Shame' be better for a band name? Just sayin'.

PulpDogg said:

That would be assuming these people are like you and me. But I'd say most of these plagiarizers are not from a Western country, but sit somewhere in India, China, Brasil or Africa and see this as a quick way to make some cash. It is the same as a spammer who sends out penis enlargement stuff - the return rates are miniscule, yet they still send out billions of these each year.

They are purely money driven. Make enough cash before getting shut down, then open another account and start over.

They really don't care if they get caught or how much media storm there is about it.

Click to expand...

It's the same logic as those guys who 'wrote' thousands of books by basically copying and pasting text from Wikipedia and other sources and putting it out as an e-book. They did this using hundreds of different author names. The logic was that it's hard to see 1000 copies of a single book, but if you have 1000 books you only need one person to buy each title - which is much easier.