Piracy, by definition, is the unauthorized use of someone else’s work or reproduction of their work without giving them any credit. Piracy is also a branch of intellectual theft, which is highly unethical and illegal. While it may not be given as much importance as material theft, it is equally wrong to steal someone’s intellectual property. Recently, our author Heba Salman- the author of ‘LEGACIES’- fell victim to intellectual theft. Her book was pirated and circulated through different social media applications and no credit was given to her. We at Daastan are extremely heartbroken about this incident and will be definitely taking action against it!
Piracy – A Threat to Writers
Heba talks about how even though piracy is so common in Pakistan, it is a shameful act which is discouraging and discriminating to the authors who pour their blood, sweat and tears into a book. Heba says:
“It is unfair to the authors, the publishers and the other customers buying the book. Any author writing a book spends so many hours working very hard on it, coming up with the idea, writing it all down, going through all the hoops and then bringing it to fruition. It costs time and money. What people need to understand is that if someone is trying to put some good out there and you want to see more of it, as in the case of Legacies, you have to support the book by getting yourself a copy the right way, the legal way! Otherwise the authors cannot keep bringing out books. It is discouraging.”
It is important to understand that the act of stealing someone’s work is harmful on various levels. Not only does it make writers skeptical about publishing their work but people might also lose money because of it. A few months ago, an award-winning science writer, Mr Muneeb Ali raised his voice on the issue of intellectual theft through his twitter and youtube accounts.
We asked Mr Muneeb that as a writer, how he plans on safeguarding his content in the future. Muneeb says,
“Being a writer, it is more difficult and painful for me to see my content freely distributed without my name than to make a blog story on any topic. I am aware of the fact that media piracy happens worldwide, but the system of law enforcement is what makes a difference between the world and Pakistan. I can’t do anything to safeguard my content except creating awareness through social media platforms. However, it is a fact that when the source is out of reach, you make consumers aware of the fact that this will automatically affect the so-called reputation of the source.”
We hope to educate people about the negative consequences of intellectual theft and piracy. Daastan encourages everyone to use their social media presence to raise voice about this heinous act so that in the future, people have to think multiple times before stealing someone’s ideas/works!
