New Potter book on the Web

Remember that scene in "The Devil Wears Prada," where the mean fashion magazine editor played by Meryl Streep orders her cowering assistant played by Anne Hathaway to find a copy of the yet-to-be-published Harry Potter book? Nobody has it, of course, but somehow, someway the assistant manages to pull off the impossible. OK, so the latest and last Harry Potter book - not available in bookstores until this Saturday - is still a pretty tough get, but it has found its way onto the Web. Sort of. Photos of what appeared to be every page of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” are showing up on various file-sharing Web sites. In a court filing, Scholastic, the book's U.S. publisher, sought "materials hosted on Photobucket.com's system" that it said might violate the book’s copyright. Photobucket.com is a Web site for sharing photos and videos on social networks - and the social network in question is gaiaonline.com. Gaia complied with the subpoena, removed the material and temporarily banned the user from the site (Bloomberg).

The pictures show that the book is laid out on a green and red-flecked looped carpet with somebody’s fingers holding it open. Some of the text difficult to read, but the ending is legible, according to folks who have seen it. It's hard to believe that this will have much of an effect on sales, but you can appreciate Scholastic's sensitivity. Not only are we talking really big numbers - it's printed 12 million copies of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" - but this is the last Potter book, and there's all kinds of speculation as to what will happen to the title character. From the NYT:

Hype and frenzy have been building for weeks, as readers anticipate the release of the final book, in which Ms. Rowling has hinted that two or more characters are likely to die, leading to speculation from many fans that Harry might not survive his own series. Fans have been guessing about other important plot points, as well, such as who will end up with whom, or whether Professor Severus Snape, a character whose moral character has been in question, is genuinely evil. Bookstores across the country are gearing up for festivities Friday night and are expecting long lines of readers who want to get their hands on a copy, which comes out in hardcover.

You might recall that Michael Moore's "Sicko" was available for free all over the Web a full two weeks before being released. But box office sales have been strong, leading some to wonder whether pirated content available for file-sharing actually drums up interest in the days before the release date. (LABO)