J.K. Rowling’s publisher, Bloomsbury Books won’t confirm or deny the validity of a post by a hacker named Gabriel who claims that he obtained a digital copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book Seven) by using an e-mail virus.

I’m a bit skeptical after reading Gabriel’s post but it has rocked the publishing world and the fans who are anxiously waiting for the book to come out. Book 6 had copies stolen pre-publication and the culprits were arrested. That’s harder to do when you’ve got hackers pulling down digital files from countries that won’t prosecute or extradite for cybercrimes.

Post-publication, Book 6 and its predecessors were available almost immediately online as teams scanned parts of the books, compiled them, and posted them on peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. The Internet age makes copyright protection almost a lost cause…and begs for a different model for profitable publishing.
Here’s the link to the alleged Harry Potter hacker spoiler post. Note that “spoiler” means that he’s giving away key plot details (if he is telling the truth). Written in broken English, the spoiler refers to the fates of Harry, Ron, Hermoine, Hagrid, Voldemort, Snape, Malfoy, and Hogwarts.