hey kids - i'm a computer - stop all the downloadin

[davemerrill]

To all our readers -

There are now many people unjustly posting copies of manga on the internet. These unjust copies are inconsistent with mangakas’ feelings. They are also distorting the authors’ intentions of “I want the work to be read this way”. The actions of posting these unjust copies on the net, into which the mangakas have poured their hearts, are not only hurting mangakas in real life but are also against the law, even if done in a light-hearted manner. Every time we discover such “unjust copies”, we talk to the mangaka and consider every possible countermeasure. But the number of inconsiderate people is great, and at present we cannot deal with all of them. We have a request for all our readers. The unjust internet copies are deeply hurting the manga culture, mangakas’ rights, and even mangakas’ souls. Please understand once again that all of that is against the law. Also, the mangakas and Shueisha will severely deal with any unjust copies found on the internet. We ask that our readers please continue to support us.

~Weekly Shonen Jump editorial department

From here, and he got it from here.

So now, at least you can't say they didn't ask!

Comments

[guyhatesyou.livejournal.com]

... and knowing is half the battle.

[damerell.livejournal.com]

I notice big copyright is very careful these days to produce this sort of paen about the authors' rights [1], leaving sordid financial concerns a distant memory.

I was moderating a panel on ebooks at Eastercon where we were trying not to have the evils-of-DRM discussion but didn't entirely succeed. I won't name the publisher, but you would have inferred from their representative that it would be better to have 100 copies out there all of which are paid for than 400 copies, 200 of which are paid for...

[1] which frankly is taking the piss a bit when it's the music industry.