But for good or ill, countless authors and publishers have encountered to some degree the loss of control induced by piracy. It means that the experiences associated with print are indeed different from those familiar to most Western readers. And any suggestion that the intrinsic cultural consequences of technology have simply been inadequately realized in such settings would be difficult to endorse. The evidence of recent international trade disputes indicates that modern technology, far from eliminating such practices, may even be facilitating them. The arguments currently raging over such matters are intense and important. Few claim to know how they will end.3

THE NATURE OF THE BOOK. Print and Knowledge in the making. ADRIAN JOHNS. THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS. CHICAGO AND LONDON.

3. These disputes extend far beyond «copyright» as conventionally understood, and include conventions now being forged to cover the «inventions» and «texts» produced in areas such as biotechnology and genome research. The economic, cultural, and moral implications at stake in these, as in the battles raging over computer and music software. are truly massive. For confrontations between the USA and China over the latter, see Faison, «Copyright Pirates.»

Before I utter my opinion, unhumble and quite ignorant: who are these western readers? Am I included? I mean, I live in America. Not that America. The one below that America…

Indeed, piracy is a problem. But also the only way to get some books in occasion. And a very interesting way for new authors to come into the game. Since some authors start by writing what they would like their favourite authors wrote. That itself is piracy.

How does fiction explain all that?

Just thinking aloud. Pasto kalo.