Piracy and Governmental Protection

I got this story courtesy of my Internet buddy, Old NFO, where he announced that a Texas author was getting hosed over by pirates in Canada, the Canadian government, and the U.S. Government.  You can read about it Boosting the Signal as it amuses you to do so.  Continue reading my own diatribe at your own risk, knowing that if you're a snowflake and I've somehow failed to offend you, it isn't for lack of trying.


Here's one to make you stop and ask the eternal question - What the Fuck?!


John Van Stry makes his living as an author.  I'll assume he's fairly good at his business, as people are buying his work and saying good things about it.  The thing is, some no good son-of-a-bitch Canuck (Travis Robert McCrea) and his beaner friend (Francisco Humberto Dias) have decided to steal John's work and sell electronic copies of it on their website.  This is commonly called piracy.

Evidence of the violation is blatant.  All you have to do is point your browser at ebook bike and you can see for yourself.

What really gets on my very last nerve is that the Federal government of the United States is aware of this - and does nothing.  The Canadian government is equally aware, and does nothing.  Both governments are giving these scumbags tacit approval to steal and to sell stolen property.

Being no slouch, John is suing these two swine, but it turns out that attorneys won't work for free, or maybe they think this isn't an ambulance worth chasing.  So as it turns out, John could use a few extra bucks, hence he's started a go fund me page.  You can check it out at Bring ebook.bike to Justice, and you can read the unofficial legal complaint at Travis Mccrea Lawsuit.

Then, kicking a man when he's down, the jack booted thugs that run Amazon just deleted John's last two novels.  No warning, no notification, no explanation of any kind.  Both books are gone without a trace.  One was released this week, and another was released a few weeks back.  The thing is, this affects the position of the books on the Amazon bestseller list, which in turn affects royalties, which has a direct impact on John being able to afford food next week.   In layman's terms, you ain't gettin' paid this month, and don't count on next month either.

The amount of pond scum sucked up by this situation is truly immense.

If you have a facebook account, you can find John at John Van Stry on facebook.  Look him up and leave the man a few words of encouragement, and if you can spare it, a few bucks into his legal fund.  Every dollar counts.

What I'm really wondering about are the other authors involved here.  More than a few of these people are notable authors, NYT bestseller lists, various awards and contacts - notables.  I'm wondering if a class action suit isn't someplace just over the horizon.

Not to be too much of a wet blanket, but if John wins this one (and it seems like a slam-dunk to me) he still has to collect.  Now me, I'd sell the debt to a violent group of motorcycle outlaws with a chapter in Vancouver.  Then I'd start watching the Canadian news.

Here's a hoist of the late afternoon bourbon to John and his supporters.