Mega Chinese search giant Baidu has been criticized lately by a group of authors who claim their copyrighted books are being infringed upon. The company is not taking this matter lightly and will be introducing Anti-Pirate technology May 1st 2011, a product 4 months in development.
A spokesman for Baidu Kaiser Kuo stated “The technology will not only enable Baidu Library to systematically eliminate copyright-infringing content already uploaded on its platform, but will also enable automatic rejection of future problematic uploads.”
Baidu is not introducing this new system out of the good of their own hearts. Instead, there are many extenuating factors that are contributing to their efforts to root out copyrighted eBooks. The USA Trade Representative office has made highly publicized remarks on how Baidu is a notorious purveyor of pirated works. More close to home, Chinese authorities with the Department of Copyright Administration made Baidu submit to these changes to appease exterior governments from putting further pressure on China.
Baidu is not only developing a deep anti-piracy platform, but they are also making a new advertising and revenue share model. This would let customers download content for free while copyright holders will get a percentage of the advertising revenue the website makes. Although the company has not given a time frame for when the new revenue share model will kick in, it is speculated that the model will go live sometime in 2011.
via Reuters
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
