Article 16

Harry Potter and the internet spoilersEsther AddleyThursday July 19, 2007The Guardian
It has one of the strictest embargoes, and perhaps the tightest security, of any book in publishing history. But only days before publication of the new Harry Potter novel its publishers yesterday were engaged in a desperate battle to suppress a number of websites after extracts apparently taken from the book appeared on the internet.
Digital photos of pages of a book purporting to be Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final volume in JK Rowling's enormously popular series, have been appearing on websites. Online file sharing networks were also offering downloadable files claiming to contain the full text of the novel, which will be launched in Britain and most of the English-speaking world at midnight UK time tomorrow and across the US five hours later.

Scholastic, the publishing house which owns the US rights, said it was endeavouring to remove the spoilers from the sites, and said there was no guarantee the leaks were authentic. "There are multiple versions of what appear to be official copies of the book on the internet, but they are conflicting," Lisa Holton, president of trade publishing and book fairs, said. "Our goal is to take down all this different material, and by taking it down we'll never know whether any of it was real until you read it yourself on Saturday morning." The firm said it had persuaded YouTube and MySpace not to carry extracts. It has also initiated legal proceedings against another website, gaiaonline.com, for publishing material relating to the book.
If the extracts are genuine it will be one of the most serious security lapses since the publication of the first book in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 10 years ago. Ahead of the launch books have been kept in guarded warehouses and delivered by vans tracked by satellites. Clays, printer of the British edition, installed barbed wire around its Suffolk plant and hired extra guards to search workers as they left the factory. A spokeswoman for Bloomsbury, which owns the English language rights outside the US, said only one person at the publisher, JK Rowling's editor Emma Matthewson, had read the manuscript. The author herself has made an impassioned plea on her website against the "sad individuals who get their kicks from ruining other people's fun. I want the readers who have, in many instances, grown up with Harry to embark on the last adventure they will share with him without knowing where they are going," she wrote.


Harry Potter and the boy wizard translatorKim Willsher in ParisWednesday August 8, 2007Guardian Unlimited
A French Harry Potter fan was arrested and held by police after allegedly posting a pirate translation of the young wizard's latest adventures on the internet.
The 16-year-old was apparently too impatient to wait for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and last in the bestselling series, to be published in French.
So he set about translating all 784 pages into the language of Molière himself, according to investigators. The first chapters were available for download a few days after the book came out in July and the complete text was online within days. The site has since been shut down.

"He wasn't doing it to make money, he is a fan," explained one investigator. "His language is French but he's very good at English."
According to Le Parisien newspaper, Miss Rowling alerted her French publishers, Gallimard, to the unofficial version on the Internet.
Police said they were "particularly surprised" by the quality of the pirate version, which they said was "semi-professional".
The high-school student from Aix-en-Provence, who has not been named, was arrested by police on Monday and kept in custody overnight. He was released today while "preliminary inquiries" are made. Police said they were hoping to question several more people in the case. If convicted, those responsible for the fraud could face heavy fines.
The book will be published in French under the title "Harry Potter et les reliques de la mort" in October.
An internet discussion last month suggested several fans working together had produced the pirate translation. Internet users were given the chance to download it in PDF format.
"The translations is semi-professional, proof of relentless work by "fans'," said one blogger.
They added: "These passionate pirates are risking a lot. We have learned that the editor has launched a big 'witch hunt' to throw in the cauldron those pirating JK Rowling's book."
Another blogger complained: "Obviously given the success of the series people's stupidity is provoked - why, we could ask, isn't the publisher capable of publishing the book internationally. It shows a lack of respect for all the French/Spanish/German speaking readers."
The seventh book - as with the previous novels - is being officially translated by Jean-Fran¸ois Ménard.
Mr Ménard, 59, who is an author in his own right, has also translated Roald Dahl and Evin Coffer's Artemis Fowl books. He translates to a strict deadline.
His wife, Diane, told the Guardian: "He cannot talk to you right now as he's translating night and day.
"I hadn't heard about this pirate translation but with the previous books there's often been someone doing something like this and it's never threatened the real thing."
She added: "I remember seeing one on the internet but the first line was the opposite of what it should have been, so it wasn't a very good start."

Vocabulary:

Suppress: If someone in authority suppresses an activity, they prevent it from continuing, by using force or making it illegal.

Leak: If a secret document or piece of information leaks or is leaked, someone lets the public know about it.

Lapse: If a period of time lapses, it passes.

Warehouse: A warehouse is a large building where raw materials or manufactured goods are stored until they are exported to other countries or distributed to shops to be sold.

Release: If a person or animal is released from somewhere where they have been locked up or looked after, they are set free or allowed to go.

Relentless: Something bad that is relentless never stops or never becomes less intense.

Cauldron: A cauldron is a very large, round metal pot used for cooking over a fire. In stories and fairy tales, a cauldron is used by witches for their spells.

Threaten: If you feel threatened, you feel as if someone is trying to harm you.

Main ideas:

After the publication of the new Harry Potter novel its publishers started a new battle to suppress a number of websites
Extracts apparently taken from the book appeared on the internet.
The launch books have been kept in guarded warehouses and delivered by vans tracked by satellites
The author herself has made an impassioned plea on her website against the people who spoil the story by anticipating what is going to happen
A French Harry Potter fan was arrested because has translated the book into French and posted it in the web

Personal Reaction:

Harry Potter has been a successful series book which caught the attention of many lecturers from different ages. The problem that this article mentions should be stopped. Since not only Harry Potter but also many books are posted in the web, in this way the habit of reading a book holding on your hands is spoiled. It is not the same to read a book that read it from a screen, apart from damage your eyes; it has many bad consequences regarding authors to publisher companies. In my opinion, I would say that there would be any kind of restrictions to post books in the web since it is illegal as well as making copies from a book.