Text produced by Isac Mascarenhas, Journalism student at IDP.
“I became so politically aware that it led to both serious debates and crazy theories like flat earth and anti-vaxxers,” says Ruan, 22, about the power provided by the books he read. Ironically, he says that through reading, he became in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana, and now he also says he is against any kind of drug.
In 2014, at the Frontiers of Thought Conference in Porto Alegre, the Argentinian writer Alberto Manguel cited this act of power offered by books and why the citizen who reads is feared in all societies. "The citizen who questions is the one who reads. One way to take this power away from the citizen is to prevent them from reading."
On the other hand, many young people cannot achieve this political power, either due to lack of access to a public library or the cost of books. One way to overcome this obstacle is to read digital works, most often pirated.
Ruan, who is writing a free physics ebook for high school students, reports that after gaining internet access he started reading more, always digitally from websites. “I didn’t want to, but necessity speaks louder. Books are usually expensive and there are few places selling them. When they are available, the shipping is double the price of the book,” he says.
Even without being able to buy them, many young people try to avoid piracy. Tainara, 18, jokes that she used to read PDFs as a child, but now her eyes can't take it anymore. The admirer of... The book Thief She says she has stopped reading books because she didn't have the money to buy them, but all 25 books she read in 2021 were physical copies. "I get them from used bookstores or borrow them, but I don't read PDFs," adds the history student.
Anne, 23, says she also looks for other ways to read, such as buying used books in secondhand bookstores. Despite this, the young woman recalls when she read the entire franchise. Harry Potter and 50 shades of gray on Wattpad. “I never had enough money for that, but it’s a dream. One day I’ll buy it!”, prophesied the Look After You fan.
The Copyright Law (9610/98) guarantees authors of artistic works the right to exploit their creations. Therefore, anyone who reproduces a copy without permission, whether electronic or physical, is subject to imprisonment from 3 months to 1 year. Despite the law, it is easy to find portals and groups for sharing books in various formats.
Teca Machado, author of the novels I love New York e Je T'aime, Paris She explains that these copies harm the author and the entire publishing market. The author of four other literary works reports that she has already seen one of her books being pirated, but prefers not to look for it so as not to get upset. "It's probably somewhere being pirated, but I don't want to find it," the writer says, laughing.
"It's hard work. Who wants to see their work pirated? I spent a lot of time – and money! – on production and publication."“Teca reveals that she regularly makes her novels available for free on Amazon.
