Not books about Pirates, but pirating books. Ursela K LeGuin recently found some of her own books available online as downloads, even though neither she nor her publishers had authorized their release in that media. Text pirating has now joined audio and video as a top copyright violation, mostly due to the growing popularity of portable text viewers. There are a lot of legally free books and stories you can read online or download for your portable player (kindle, palmtop, cell phone, etc.). Some are there as a marketing tool to increase sales, some are available because the author released it under a creative commons or equivalent copyright license, some because the copyright has expired. Like everything else, there is a history and controversies about copyright laws, with multinational companies on one side, users of the intellectual properties on the other, and the actual creators lining up on both sides depending on individual inclination and attitude. Personally, I consider it the authors right to decide how they want their works to be made available. Having their work distributed without their permission and without compensation does not create a sustainable creative environment; authors deserve a payday as well.
