Text produced by Isac Mascarenhas, Journalism student at IDP

"I became politicized both for more serious debates and for crazy theories like flat earth and anti-vaccines", says Ruan, 22 years old, about the power provided by the books he read. In an ironic tone, he says that through reading, he became in favor of the legalization of recreational marijuana, and now he also says he is against any type of drug. 

In 2014, at the Frontiers of Thought Conference, in Porto Alegre, Argentine writer Alberto Manguel cited this act of power offered by books and why the citizen who reads is feared in all societies. "The citizen who questions is the one who reads. One way to take this power away from the citizen is to make him not read." 

On the other hand, many young people cannot achieve this politicizing power, either due to the lack of access to a public library or the value of the books. One way to overcome this obstacle is to read digital works, most of the time pirated.

Ruan, who is writing a free physics ebook for high school, reports that after he had access to the internet he started reading more, always scanning websites. "I didn't want to, but the need speaks louder. Generally books are expensive and there are few places selling them. When they are available, the shipping costs are twice as much as the book", he says. 

Even without being able to buy, many young people try to escape piracy. Tainara, 18, jokes that she read PDFs as a child, but today her eyes can no longer bear it. The admirer of The Girl Who Stole Books claims that she stopped reading books because she didn't have the money to buy them, but all 25 books she read in 2021 are physical. “I get it from second-hand bookstores or borrow it, but I don’t read it in PDF format,” adds the history student.

Anne, 23, says she also looks for other ways to read, such as buying used books in used bookstores. Despite this, the young woman remembers when she read the entire Harry Potter and 50 Shades of Gray on Wattpad. "I never had enough money for this, but it's a dream. One day I'll buy it!", prophesied the Look After You fan.

The Copyright Law (9610/98) guarantees authors of artistic works the exploitation of their creations. Therefore, anyone who reproduces a copy without permission, whether electronic or physical, is subject to imprisonment from 3 months to 1 year. Despite the law, it is easy to find portals and groups for sharing books in different formats. 

Teca Machado, writer of the novels I Love New York and Je T 'aime, Paris explains that these copies harm the author and the entire publishing market. The author of four other literary works reports that she has already seen one of her books being pirated, but prefers not to look for it so as not to be sad. "It's probably somewhere to be pirated, but I don't want to find it", says the writer, laughing.

"It's a job. Who wants to see their work pirated? I spent a lot of time - and money! - on production and publication ", reveals Teca, who regularly makes her novels available for free on Amazon.