The publishing industry has announced that it will suspend the supply of e-books and books if Aladin does not present a proper compensation plan regarding the leakage of e-book data.
The Korea Publishers Association and the "Countermeasures Committee for Publishers Affected by Illegal E-book Leakage" held an "Emergency General Meeting for Publishers Affected by Illegal E-book Leakage" on the 16th at the auditorium of the Korea Publishers Association building in Mapo-gu, Seoul, demanding "fair compensation payments to the affected publishers."
On the 16th, participants are taking a commemorative photo at the auditorium of the Korea Publishers Association building in Mapo-gu, Seoul, during the "Emergency General Meeting of Publishers Affected by Illegal E-book Leaks." [Photo by Korea Publishers Association]
According to the Publishers Association and the committee, Aladin initially responded to publishers who demanded individual compensation after the e-book leakage was confirmed with a general statement that it would fulfill its compensation responsibilities. However, recently, it has offered a "token response" by promising compensation benefits only if the publishers participate in its e-book B2B (business-to-business) and audiobook businesses.
The Publishers Association and the committee stated, "This deceives the publishers and copyright holders who have trusted Aladin and waited for a long time," and urged, "Immediately provide direct compensation to the affected publishers."
They added, "If proper compensation is not made, even if another e-book leakage incident occurs in the future, it will be impossible to hold the distributors, who have clear responsibility for e-book security, accountable. Moreover, this could lead to indifference and neglect regarding e-book security."
The Publishers Association and the committee conveyed four main demands: ▲ First, pay fair compensation to the copyright holders and publishers affected by the illegal e-book leakage; ▲ officially apologize for ignoring the compensation demands of the affected copyright holders and publishers and listen to the voices of the affected publishers with a proactive attitude; ▲ strengthen security systems to prevent e-book leakage; and ▲ continuously communicate with the publishing industry to establish related systems.
Aladin suffered a hacking incident in May, resulting in the leakage of 720,000 e-books, among which about 5,000 were distributed on Telegram and other platforms. The arrested suspect was confirmed to be a high school student.
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