Amazon Takes New Position on Selling Plagiarized Books

Before reading this, please remember that the noted aboriginal psychic Sven Heruingal predicted last Thursday before breakfast that without more signatures on the petition in the upper left hand corner of this blog, your chances of being plagiarized might be increased.

*****

I had my notebook out and my Montblanc pen balanced on the edge of my salad bowl.  It was my way of telling her that I was ready to take notes at a moment's notice, although Tahini sauce tends to smear the ink.


Before arriving, I'd clipped my press pass to my collar so she'd recognize me.

"So, as someone who looks like a celebrity lawyer but isn't,"  I said,  "can you confirm to this reporter beyond a shadow of a doubt that the serial plagiarist David B. Boyer from Vincennes, IN and Amazon are in a way business partners?"

"No," she said.

I wanted to eat some of my tabouli, but didn't want to spend hours flossing the little parsley flakes out from between my teeth.

"But doesn't Amazon publish a lot of plagiarized material through CreateSpace?"

"Define a lot," she smiled, and for a moment I thought she looked like Nancy Grace would if she were attractive.

"Too much?"  I offered.


She adjusted her glasses to look down her nose.

"According to Judge Judy, the phrase business partners can mean many things."

"Try this,"  I said,  "David B. Boyer and others like him steal the copyrighted work of other writers. He and the other sleaze-buckets send this stolen work to one of the Amazon owned companies who then turns this digital theft into a hard copy product called a book.  Then the main Amazon company sells the stolen content which is also now a physical product through its main outlet and gives it to a bunch of distributors to sell so more innocent people are implicated in this crooked operation.  All because Amazon, with their massive computing powers, doesn't even check whether the stuff is stolen.  They do the Wink Wink."

She put down her falafel sandwich and stared at me.

"The what?"

"The Wink Wink," I said.  "That's where even though Amazon has all the computing power in the world to see if the submitted work is stolen, they ask the plagiarist to sign a document that it's not and that way they don't have to check it themselves and find out for sure it's stolen.  That way Amazon can still go on making money on stolen product, they can still pay the thieves to keep on providing stolen product and if anyone complains about it, they say they didn't know."

"You should start your own online bookstore," she said.  "You're pretty good at this."

"I was born to report, ma'am,"  I told her.  "News is in my blood.  Selling stolen product like Amazon does and pretending they have no responsibility for their involvement might make them money, but I still have my own press pass.  You have to be an ace reporter to get one of these."

I thought she'd be impressed.  Instead she made me an offer that shocked me.  When a woman in a low cut red dress makes you a shocking offer, you pay attention.

"Hypothetically, and with no basis in reality, if Amazon made their plagiarized book sales into a separate division or company, would a good looking reporter like you be interested in running it?"

I thought about it.  If she would have said hot looking reporter, I might have taken the bait.

"No, ma'am," I said.  "It's not the fact that it would be sleazy but profitable, it's just that  Amazon's logo is embarrassing.  It's not relevant to their pretend-they-don't know-they-publish-plagiarized-writing business model."

"And what would you propose?"  she asked.

I shoved a photo across the table at her.  Our fingers brushed as she stared wide-eyed at the picture I've posted on this blog.  It could easily be made into the new Amazon logo and she knew it.

Thing is, when a company's executives stick their head in the sand while their operating units are buying and selling stolen material, the Federal Trade Commission can come along and kick them in the ass.  Maybe I should let the FTC know about this scam.

Maybe I'll just stick with being a reporter.  

From the Secret Files of the Vincennes, Indiana EPA

They signed the petition in the upper left hand corner of this blog before the smoggy darkness settled in over the city of Vincennes, IN.  Television helicopters as of this writing cannot penetrate the obfuscation to see if anyone remains behind with David B. Boyer, the serial plagiarist who started it all...

*****

We met just after midnight at EPA headquarters.  The soft glow of computer screens lit empty desktops with an electric eldritch light.  A floating hologram of Al Gore singing Ricky Martin hits at a Brazilian karoake bar sent shivers down my spine.

The hallways were dark, but my informant still wore sunglasses and a large rubber nose to conceal his identity.  A black fedora and trenchcoat completed the disguise.

"Keep your voice down," he whispered, "and call me JoJo."

"But your name's Bob," I said.

"Do you want the story or not?"

I thought it over.

"So, Jojo, is it true the EPA is considering a special David Boyer smog alert for the area surrounding Vincennes, Indiana?"

He glanced furtively up and down the hallway.  

His real job was night shift janitor for the EPA.  All good reporters know that janitors are the best spies.  The dirt, as my old editor always said, is usually in the waste basket.

"Can we step into this broomcloset?" he asked.

"I'm not that kind of guy."

"Neither am I, but this is confidential stuff.  Director is going on TV soon to announce a quarantine of the whole town.  Pollution's so bad you can't tell clouds from the air.  It's all the people driving away from Vincennes, Indiana.  Town's got a bad name because of David Boyer's plagiarism.  Nobody wants to live in the same town with a scam artist like him.  Tailpipe exhaust from all of those people trying to escape has created a disgusting cloud over that city that's starting to block out the sun."

This reporter was stunned.

"All the trees will die," I said.  "People will have to wear face masks just to breathe.  Incredible.  How long do I have to break the story?"

"Better hurry," he said.  "Word is Boyer is plagiarizing faster than you can type."

"But I type over 100 words a minute."

He faded back into the shadows.

"Better type quicker," he whispered from the darkness. "You're falling behind."

The Watch List Idea

Winner of the David B. Boyer Moral Code Award

*****

Do any of you out there know of a congressional representative who is interested in digging into internet fraud across state lines?  We are researching this now, but I'd appreciate leads to help Amazon improve their corporate behavior re selling stolen content.


Here's my new letter to the Amazon legal department:

*****

Dear Angela Johnson in the Amazon/CreateSpace Legal Department,

How about if Amazon/CreateSpace create a Watch List of known plagiarists who repeatedly use your service to publish their stolen materials.

Sure plagiarists like David B. Boyer of Vincennes, IN publish under a bunch of aliases to avoid being caught, but since your company has their social security numbers, you know who they are no matter what name they use.  And every time you pay them for selling their stolen material, you pay the thief and you keep profits from selling the stolen material.  You're kind of in bed together, which is really low.

And why don't you ban these creeps- the serial plagiarists with a demonstrating selling stolen content.  Is your company afraid of losing the money or just never thought of it?  They're abusing services and giving Amazon a bad name.

Here's another suggestion:  since your company has this massive data base of books and their content on your company's computers, why not actually run a comparison scan on books submitted to be published by you guys either through CreateSpace or Kindle to see if all or parts of the content are stolen?  I know your company can do it, the other writers know you can do it and the Federal Trade Commission knows that you can do it.

So before someone at the Federal Trade Commission starts to wonder why you're manufacturing books out of stolen material and selling this physical commodity of stolen property across state lines, maybe you could introduce a program where you self-police.

That way you would won't some day be in front of a congressional committee explaining why you don't check to see if your products are stolen.


Regards, 


Ferrel D. Moore

The Plagiarist as Victim

How does a guilty plagiarist defend themselves?  Let's see how America's sleaziest plagiarizing publisher David B. Boyer of Vincennes, IN does it.

He has written a screenplay/ book that is worse still than his already low standards, wherein he portrays himself (through a whiny, simpering character) as a victim of cyberstalking.  The problem is, not only is it a narcissistic self-fantasy, it is so hideously written that it was actually painful to read.  Boyer is a terrible writer.  For a serial plagiarist, con man and crooked businessman like David B. Boyer, it is important to portray himself as a victim of cyberstalking so  he can garner sympathy from the unwary.  He hopes this shameless ruse will take the focus off of his smarmy thefts and cons.

Now we all know why he feels compelled to plagiarize- he is a terrible writer.

For those who don't know the standard I am not a Crook routines used by plagiarizing publishers, I outline the four most popular in my upcoming book "Indiana Sleaze." 

Plagiarists like Boyer, already embarassed by their own writing, lack of self-image and plagued by the need for unwarranted adulation, are still actually somewhat embarrassed to use the first three tactics.  They're not comfortable with them, most likely because it appears to put them on the defense.  Only the fourth makes them feel like they can wear Big Boy Pants again- and of course we should all worry about smarmy con men who want to wear Big Boy Pants.

First the famous Boyerism, "This is a private matter."  This is where the plagiarist actually tries to convince the victim that the professional way to handle the crime he or she has committed is to keep it secret so they don't get punished and so he or she can continue to steal from other people.

The second Boyerism is to attempt to diminish the victim, calling them names, saying they are lucky he stole from them and how dare they be so unprofessional as to question he or she.  Plagiairsts are better than their victims, after all.  Frequently the plagiarists, lacking originality even in their defense tactics, will begin questioning their victim's sanity, sometimes calling them sociopaths, stalkers, and/or whatever other psychology terms they can steal from the web or their local library.

The third Boyerism I call the "Attack of the Capital Letters."  After being in martial arts for over thirty years, I struggled to find a similar defense strategy in "The Book of Five Rings," by Myamoto Musashi or "The Art of War," by Sun Tzu.  The closest I can find is the use of shouting like a maniac being bitten on the ankles by a rabid pig in the lost works of a man known only as the Swordsman's Foot Washer.  I believe I have the only remaining copy of this work.

Using this bizarre tactic, Boyer and other plagiarists seize on the concept of capitalizing entire words in their correspondence with their victims as though this will frighten the person they are writing to.  I asked the gang- banger down the street what this tactic meant, and he said, "The man can't get it on."  After my friend was cuffed and taken away, I realized I had completely forgotten to ask him what it meant when a plagiarist made excessive use of underlining.

But it is their fourth and final defense, which I explore in great detail in "Indiana Sleaze," that they feel most comfortable using.  Here it is.  Are you ready?

"I'm the Victim!"

Don't laugh.  Seriously, cut that out.  It's not funny.  Well, it is, sort of.  Too lazy to work when they can steal our stuff, claim our identities and run with the money?  Yeah, that's funny ha ha but not funny for real.  Plagiarists like to claim they are being stalked, harassed, persecuted.  They are just innocents being run down by an angry mob.  And their victims put the mob on them.  That's it.  The plagiarists are innocent and the victims are guilty.  The are cyber-stalked.  You get the picture.  They're victims.

Now you know the Fourth Defense-  plagiarist as victim, victim as the guilty party.  Do they think we're stupid or what? 

Young Writers Vulnerable to Plagiarizing Publishers

"Don't Let David B. Boyer Touch My Story, Mommy."

"It's an entirely new phenomena," said Dr. Icky.

He tapped his index finger on the wall mounted coumpter screen indicating the picture of the crying little girl and her desperate mother you see above.  I felt a chill go down my spine as I realized the implications of what the doctor was saying.

"So, this is a documented, peer-reviewed study proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that David Boyer, the sleazy plagiarist from Vincennes, Indiana is the reason little girls all across the country are suffering PTSS?"

He nodded authoritatively.  Dr. Icky is Dean of Sociopathic studies at Vincennes, Indiana University.

"Yes," he said.  "PTSS, or Pre-plagiary Traumatic Stress Syndrome as it is sometimes known, is in fact the fear that little girls have of David Boyer touching their stories."

I wrote slowly, making sure that I  spelled PTSS properly.

"So they're afraid David Boyer will touch their writing even if he hasn't?  Why is that, doctor?"

"Ahhh, now you are thinking like a scientist," he said approvingly.

"I enjoy watching Mr. Wizard re-runs on Hulu.com," I said.

"Hmmmm..." he replied.  "Perhaps we need to schedule an appointment for you.  But we can get to that later.  For now, do you know why the woman in this photo is so upset?"

I looked closer.

"No."

"She learned David Boyer stole a story from a sixteen year old girl.  It shocked her.  It horrified her.  She told me her fear of Boyer's improper touching of other people's writings so affected her daughter that the little girl developed PTSS within days.  A sixteen year old girl- what kind of a man would steal the inner thoughts of a sixteen year old girl?"

I thought about it.

"Could it be linked to wearing a black trench coat and no pants near schoolyards?"  I asked.

Dr. Icky looked uncomfortable as tugged at his lab coat lapel.

"That's a creepy thought," he said finally.

"No," I said.  "A fifty-plus year old man hunched over a computer stealing stories from sixteen year old girls- now that's a really creepy thought."

The Drinking Water or Genetics Gone Wild?

Scientists Discover Plagiary Genes in Vincennes, IN

Last week, a group of teen-aged genetic archaeologists were shocked to discover what could be the genes that cause a bad writer posing as a publisher to plagiarize.  Authorities are still searching for the owner of the genes.

"Somebody wore them," said an un-identified source in the Vincennes Police Department.  "Sooner or later they'll run out of identities to hide behind."

Marie Cruz, noted expert in posing as people she's not, said, "These kids should get a medal.  If they've located the precursor genetic strands that cause people to steal intellectual property and claim it as their own, we need to name something after them.  Like maybe a prison or something."

Names of the young scientists are not being released until they secure a media agent.

"This is the second major discovery of plagiary roots in the State of Indiana in the last seven or eight months," said Professor Steven Ricecakes.  "First that Caswell thing.  That was bad enough.  I thought we were going to have to change the name of the state it was so embarassing.  Then along comes David B. Boyer.  Ouch.  Now we really need to change the state name.  You think people in Indiana want the rest of the world to know they live in the same state as Caswell and David B. Boyer?"

In fact, investigators from the Human Genome Project are thinking of sending water pollution experts to Vincennes, Indiana, to determine if contaminated water could be the "Patient Zero" of the recent outbreak of Plagiarizing Publishers that have humiliated the whole state.

Director Tanya Sterilize says it's dangerous work looking into stupidity.  "I tell my investigators not to drink the water when they're in off the grid little towns like Vincennes, Indiana or they could end up stealing stuff and selling it under an alias.  Maybe it's not a gene causing this thing but some kind of squirming little parasite in the water.  Think about it- you are what you  drink.  If you've got parasites in your water, you'll get parasites in your stomach and sooner or later in your head."

Parasites in the head.

What better definition for the word "plagiarist?"

Indiana, a Plagiarist's Paradise

Indiana, the state where plagiarizing publishers are pampered.  Consider the case of David B. Boyer, still on the loose selling plagiarized materials through Amazon, through Lulu, etc..  Consider the Consumer Fraud Division that won't shut him down because he's just stealing from writers.  That's you and me.

Writers don't have rights, do they?  A book full of stolen materials is a physical product and to sell it under false label (without the author's permission and under someone else's name) is consumer fraud.  So why isn't the Assistant Attorney General of Indiana closing down the state's most blatant plagiarizing scam publisher- namely David B. Boyer of Vincennes, IN?

Consumer fraud is a crime.  Knowingly publishing plagiarized writing and selling it to consumers is clearly Consumer Fraud.  However, the Assistant Attorney General of Indiana hasn't been treating our complaints as such because we're just writers.

So I'm going to up the game and start writing to the Attorney General of Indiana, and congressmen in Indiana pointing out that this kind of lax enforcement gives their state a bad name.

Right now David B. Boyer is still selling plagiarized writing from a variety writers both known and unknown.  He sells them under his own name and under many aliases.

We writers have to demand that the State Attorney General treat this as fraud.

Look, they want us all to file copyright infringement suits across state lines against nickel and dime con artists like David B. Boyer of Vincennes, IN.  Well, the fact is creeps like Boyer are stealing from writers, producing a falsely labeled product and selling it across state lines via the Internet.  It's a crime.  They're criminals.

But because we're only writers and it's only "intellectual property," we're all supposed to roll over for these spineless thieves.

No way.

I'm going to start this ball rolling again.  I'll take all the help I can get.  You've all been great so far but I'm going to ask for your help again.  We need to band together against this.  

Plagiarism and re-publishing for profit is a crime and I'm going to work to see creeps like David B. Boyer locked up.

He sent me a confession.  I can't wait to find the right law enforcement officer to send it to.