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Will Femia is a Weblog enthusiast who, through good fortune and dumb luck, was introduced to the form as his position as chat producer for MSNBC.com careered into obsolescence. On any given day, Will can be found having already spent an unhealthy amount of time squinting at a computer screen.

Send a message to Will at spotter@msnbc.com



About the new leaked Potter book -second update

Posted: Tuesday, July 17, 2007 1:45 PM by Will Femia

I'm not going to link to this one directly because it feels much more authentic to me.  Plus, you'll feel much more satisfied if you hunt it down yourself.  What I'll say is that unlike other bootleg versions where someone (or someones) transcribed the book, in this case someone took photographs of the book.  Every single page.  The Bit Torrent download is a huge thread of image files.

For my own adventure, I tried the Bit Torrent download from the biggest torrent site I know and was thwarted by my corporate network security.  My ITs were apologetic but couldn't help me, even when I insisted it was a matter of news and journalism. So instead I copied the name of the file that was on BitTorrent and plugged that into Google.  What comes up are a million RapidShare links.  Those are direct downloads, not filesharing, so in a couple minutes I had it on my thumb drive. I see some of the links are being killed already, but if you're persistent you can probably find it.

UPDATE: Our crack team of Harry Potter fans are actually trying to read these blurry photos and for various reasons the general consensus is that this is not the real one. What has me thinking this is fake is the odd block of text on the copyright page.  For those who've bothered, what is that second block of text that cites all those other titles?  Could it be the fanfic author crediting his/her inspiration? Reply through comments or mail.  No spoilers will be published here.

UPDATE 2 7/19: The newspapers are beginning to break the embargo as retailers do the same.  The New York Times has a review up as does the Baltimore Sun.  They're not revealing the ending exactly but they do offter clues that suggest that the photographed version is indeed the real one. And from what I can tell, that means the typed "first ten chapters" (which I found via an inadvertent tip in the comments of this blog) are also real. Anyway, I mention all of this by way of admitting that it looks like I was wrong in thinking the photographed version is a fake. Which also means all of my exciting conspiracy theories were wrong. Rats.

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Comments

Anyone who leaks the new book should be hung by their thumbs, or sued to oblivion - horrible thing to do.

Jessica Jones (Sent Tuesday, July 17, 2007 3:44 PM)

You would think somebody would import this in to an Application that reconizes charectors and strips them from the graphic.  Making it a LOT smaller and Much easier to read.  Combine that with a Simple Spell check and you probably could have a very nice copy.  I wonder how long it takes before this shows up on scribd.com   I know they have all the other books on the site.

G (Sent Tuesday, July 17, 2007 3:57 PM)

I'm paying for my copy on Saturday morning and reading it then. As a published author, I know more people than just the author make their living from these books. There are plenty of little people who have to pay their rent, feed their kids just like I do. I'm buying from my local independent bookstore and in that way, supporting my community. It's all about choices and I choose to do the right thing. This way I will also get the REAL story, not something that may or may not be a hoax.

A Haunold (Sent Tuesday, July 17, 2007 4:20 PM)

A Haunold,
You argument reminds me of Lars Ulrich back in the late 90's, whining about records not being sold because of napster...then charging 85+ bucks a ticket at Metallica shows...

Because the leak is so close to the release date, and because the ocean of fake spoilers makes any real spoiler dubious at best, the financial impact of this leak will be effectively negligible. Besides, 99.99% of people (like me) who take the time to find the jpegs or find the real spoilers probably already have had a copy pre-ordered for several months.

Alex, Lawrence, KS (Sent Tuesday, July 17, 2007 6:29 PM)

As a victim of theft, this stuff is just sickening.  It's bad enough that idiots out there try to steal someone else's hard earned rewards, topping that off with others giving credence and kudo's to these idiots just makes it worse.  If you can get online to read this BS, then you can certainly afford to buy the new HP book when it hits the stores, like a law abiding citizen.  Stop giving these thieves and cutthroats face time, stop encouraging them.

Kirk, LV, NV (Sent Tuesday, July 17, 2007 7:51 PM)

I have no idea why, but I rather enjoy spoilers. I read movie spoilers, sometimes even scripts ahead of time. I have never once had this impact the enjoyment of 'the journey'. Think of all the kids who didn't grow up in the 70's...one of the first things they learn about Darth Vader is that he's Luke's father. See my point?

That being said, I would NEVER force a spoiler on others.

Thankz!

Chuck, Louisville, Ky (Sent Wednesday, July 18, 2007 12:42 PM)

I've read some of the spoilers, and I find it fun that they are all different.  I'm sure one of them is correct.  One I read a few hours ago had pictures of the final section's pages, and I read through it and it seems to be in-character, however there were portions of it that didn't make sense.  Perhaps this is because I have to read the whole book?   Gosh, what a concept!

Either way, I don't care.  I was planning on buying one Saturday, but my kids have requested to go to the Hogwart's party at the local Borders and get it right at midnight, so we'll be doing that.  Then we'll know for sure.  

Dave, Chicago, IL (Sent Wednesday, July 18, 2007 1:39 PM)

Just read Chuck's comment about Luke and Darth and wanted to say that the special on E (I think?) talks about how Lucas kept this hidden from everyone, and only told Mark Hammil as he was going up to act.  So only he knew how to react, and everyone else heard different lines (with James Earl Jones doing the words after - the man in the Darth suit had a completely different script).  You can see the actors and staff still showing enjoyment of that surprise even all these years later.

Dave, Chicago, IL (Sent Wednesday, July 18, 2007 1:41 PM)

Hi Dave,

I was actually referring to the kids who came much later. 80's/90's kids. When I was a kid, ROTJ hadn't yet been released and many fans were unsure if Vader was just messin' with old Luke.

But enough of that. I have read a few of the Potter spoilers, and I have a feeling the one I like best is the one thats a fake. In a few weeks, people like Oprah will be openly discussing the spoilers assuming that everyone on the planet has read the book anyway.

Chuck, Louisville, Ky (Sent Wednesday, July 18, 2007 9:54 PM)

Voldemort is Harry's father!

James in Indy (Sent Thursday, July 19, 2007 2:27 PM)

I'm not convinced that the NY Times reviewed the actual book.  Maybe it's a lack of imagination on my part, but I just don't see buying a book on Wednesday, reading the entire thing, writing a review, having the review edited, and then posting the review all in the same day.  I need to know that someone, or several people, in addition to the reviewer handled the actual book.  As for now, the leaked copy may still be fake.  We'll know on Saturday.  

Molly, Irvine, CA (Sent Thursday, July 19, 2007 3:56 PM)

I don't plan on buying the book at all, but I'm high on the reserve list at my local library.  Any time I read a book from the library, am I cheating authors out of money?  So, if I'm not buying the book to read it, but borrowing it from a library, what's the difference between a few days in terms of money to the author/publishers?

Dale, Portland, OR (Sent Thursday, July 19, 2007 5:17 PM)

I've already ordered my copy; if I were to get a chance to start reading it online before my copy arrives, I don't see where that hurts anyone. People who don't want to read spoilers, don't have to read them.

To me, the "free download vs. buy the CD" debate has been horribly overdone, and the main culprit keeping money out of the hands of the artists isn't the person who downloads MP3s, but the record industry. Janis Ian's Website has some amazing essays on just how badly a label artist gets screwed.

As for Luke and Darth, I'm sure the *real* copy of _Deathly Hallows_ doesn't include the line, "Hello. My name is Harry Potter. You killed my father. Prepare to die!"

Loren, SF Bay Area, CA (Sent Thursday, July 19, 2007 8:35 PM)



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