Even one of the greatest veils of secrecy in the history of publishing may not have kept the seventh and final Harry Potter book from going public. In the past two days, several internet sites have posted what they claim to be photographed pages of the entire unreleased novel Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Somehow, someone seems to have found a copy, taken pictures of every page, and decided to make it available to whoever wants it.
The book's American publisher, Scholastic, says there are inconsistencies with the various online postings, and it won't confirm which ones, if any, are the real thing. It's asking people to try and preserve the magic, and the secrets of who survives the final pages, until the book comes out on Saturday.
Often, early leaks are seen as publicity stunts for movies, albums or books. But you can't believe Scholastic or Britain's Bloomsbury press could be behind this one. If any book didn't need any additional publicity, it's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It's already sold oodles of copies and is expected to fly off the shelves as soon as the embargo expires at 12:01 on July 21st.
These days, no secrets seem to be safe. Spoiler sites all over the internet will give out every last detail of a movie long before it leaves the editing room. It's not hard to find out exactly what's going to happen on a television show weeks before it airs. Numerous musical artists have seen their albums appear on the internet long before they planned anyone to hear the music.
There's a clear issue of copyright violations that will eventually have to come before the legal system. If people are going to continually see their work stolen, the incentive to create it will sooner or later dry up. But the more immediate issue, to me, seems to be why some people feel the need to spoil the fun for everyone else.
It would be nice for a secret as big as the final moments of the Harry Potter series to stay a secret until the reader hits the final page. It would be nice to watch movies like The Sixth Sense and The Crying Game without someone having already gone public with the plot-twisting details. Why should someone have to avoid the internet entirely on the days before a pivotal Heroes episode to avoid accidentally seeing that someone isn't going to survive it? I firmly believe that one reason for the frustrating cut-to-black in the Sopranos finale was to keep anything from leaking about Tony's fate.
Yes, there are people who want this information. And there are days in which my curiosity gets the best of me. But if the final pages reveal that Harry and Voldemort team up to open a coffee bar in Denver and that Hermione marries an elephant and Ron becomes the latest ultimate fighting champion, I want to read it for myself. In life, genuine surprises are rare enough. I'm sorry to see that the trend is for them to become fewer and fewer.
Jeff Field
NBC Action News Executive Producer
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