The Association of Authors has just made a new short film that uses a number of popular Dutch authors to bring awareness to ebook piracy. Arthur Japin, Alma Mathijsen, Francine Oomen, Ernest van der Kwast and Jessica Durlacher, steal an ice cream, a newspaper, a bottle of wine and a dog.
Piracy in the Netherlands is a big deal. Dutch research firm GfK. has stated that 10% of digital books in the Netherlands are actually paid for. The bulk of the content out there is pirated from file sharing websites or Bittorrent. “On average, a Dutch e-reader has 117 e-books, 11 of which are paid for,” says Algemeen Dagblad.
Michael Kozlowski has been writing about audiobooks and e-readers for the past twelve years. His articles have been picked up by major and local news sources and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.