After every news outlet spent the last three days talking about the heightened security around shipments of the new Harry Potter book, one guy with one copy and one digital camera is now responsible for the book being in the hands of several thousand people as I type this.

Yes, he (I’m guessing he… man hands) took photos of every page of the book, and then somebody else put them all together in a PDF file for easy reading.

Well, okay, not easy. The photographer wasn’t exactly great about making sure the pages were flat, so there are lots of unreadable spots.

So… Did I read it? About 10 pages of it and then stopped. My UK edition will be on its way soon enough, so I don’t have a burning desire to squint at my monitor to read the Americanized version (in the UK, it would have been “Americanised”). Plus, the pressure I received from my wife was just unbearable. I was warned that any revelation of plot line contained therein would be grounds for divorce. Also, I was informed that I was a dirty law breaker who had no sense of decency.

Sure, okay. Except that we’re going to have two purchased copies of the thing in our house within the week. I don’t feel so bad about having a copy slightly early. It’s not piracy so much as it is a preview (in full) of what we’ll be receiving.

It isn’t as though this leak is going to make a lick of difference. The book will still sell every single copy it was going to sell before this PDF surfaced. No crappy computer flip book is going to keep people like the fine young ladies pictured right from walking home with the final Potter tome.

J.K.’s future is secure.

Speaking of fans, if you’ve never watched Harry Potter Parking Lot, you should. Right now. Do it while you’re torrenting the book.