A practical workflow for finding possible unauthorized ebook copies, preserving evidence, and choosing an official reporting route.
Published ; updated
Ebook piracy can affect authors, but unsupported loss estimates and assumptions about who has been pirated are not useful evidence. Work from exact URLs, actual content, and documented rights.
Build a reference record
Keep the title, author or publisher, edition, publication date, authorized sales or library pages, cover, and files or excerpts needed to compare a candidate. An ISBN helps identify an edition but does not by itself establish every relevant right.
Search cautiously
- Search the exact title and author name, with terms such as PDF or download where appropriate
- Review public results without downloading untrusted archives or bypassing access controls
- Check whether the result is the book itself, a review, an excerpt, an authorized library copy, or only a misleading filename
Preserve evidence and decide
Record the exact page and file URLs, capture date, visible context, matched edition, rights holder, and review conclusion. Use the host's current official process only after confirming the reporting basis.
Distinguish source and search action
A host report concerns the page or file at its source. A search-engine legal request concerns eligible search results. Either provider may ask for more information, decline the request, or offer an appeal route.
Consider proportionate deterrence
Visible or buyer-specific PDF marks can assist attribution, but they do not prevent copying. Assess readability, privacy, disclosure, retention, and the risk of falsely attributing a redistributed copy.
Use an edition-specific reference
Record the exact edition, language, publisher, publication date, ISBN where relevant, cover, authorised retailers and libraries, and representative pages. Rights can vary between text, translation, illustrations, cover art, formats, and territories. An ISBN or matching cover helps identify an edition, but it does not by itself prove who can act for every element.
Classify what the result actually is
- Metadata or catalogue record with no accessible text
- Review, quotation, sample chapter, or authorised preview
- Different edition, translation, public-domain version, or similarly titled work
- Page or file that appears to provide a substantial copy
- Forum, social post, or index that points to a separate source host
This classification prevents a title match from being counted as a pirated file and shows which provider controls the relevant material. Keep the record page, external file location, and search result separate even when a user reaches them through one click path.
Review safely and preserve only what you need
Do not open unknown executables, install special download tools, or bypass access controls to prove a candidate. Record the exact URL, visible metadata, access state, uploader or account context, and representative pages when they can be viewed safely. If a technical file review is necessary, use an isolated process and retain the reason and result rather than circulating the file.
Check legitimate distribution before reporting
Publishers, distributors, subscription services, schools, libraries, reviewers, and promotional partners can have different permissions. An author may also have granted territorial or format rights that affect who should report. Note which relationships were checked and pause when authority, public-domain status, quotation, or another exception is uncertain.
Keep the evidence and outcome auditable
Connect each candidate URL to the protected edition and the specific content observed. Store the capture date, reviewer decision, selected host or search route, submission reference, provider response, and later access check as separate fields. A notice sent is not a removal; a delisted result is not source deletion; and an inaccessible file is not automatically proof that a particular request caused the change.
AISentinela may help present candidate ebook URLs and evidence for a human decision. It does not guarantee discovery, legal validity, filing, delisting, or source removal. General information only, not legal advice.