Russian App Wants E-Book Piracy To End, Happily Ever After
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When it comes to online media, Russia is a country synonymous with digital piracy: Some reports say the amount of movies, television shows, books, software and music consumed online illegally in Russia costs U.S. companies billions of dollars each year.
The Russian government has taken a crucial step in tackling the problem by passing a law protecting the rights of TV show and movie makers. But the legislation has failed to include e-books — and Russia's largest publishing house says that up to 95 percent of all e-book downloads are pirated.
So, how do you solve a problem like literary piracy?
It's not too much of a plot twist to discover that a solution has come from Russia itself, a country with a rich literary tradition. One Moscow-based tech company has an answer that sees access to books as the next big streaming service — read: a Netflix or Spotify for books.
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