Ebook lending service shut down after authors accuse it of piracy
Summary
The initial confusion appears to have stemmed from the fact that searching LendInk would bring up results for virtually any title in the Amazon Kindle or Barnes & Noble ebook libraries; the site itself was a member of Amazons affiliate program, and would receive revenue when users clicked through to purchase titles. After several authors noticed the site early this month, word spread on Twitter and across several bulletin boards. LendInks owner, Dale Porter, told The Digital Media Machine that his ISP received "hundreds of threats regarding possible lawsuits" in response, which resulted in the site being taken down. As for the authors themselves, John M. Davis writes on his own site that his issue with LendInk wasnt the book lending — though he does say it "exposes a loophole in the lending system" — but rather that the site was hosting the cover art for his books without permission. And after directly emailing the website and asking that my images be removed without response, my C&D letter proved to be the silver bullet."