That’s the question Charlie Sorrel asks in this report for Wired, noting that “the number of BitTorrent book downloads” — i.e., pirated books — “grew by an average of 78 percent in the days after the iPad went on sale.”

The overall numbers are small compared to music and movies, he says, meaning “e-book piracy is still a small problem. Right now it’s a very geeky pastime, which is reflected in the skew of these titles (Getting Things Done, Freakonomics and The Tipping Point were on the TorrentFreak list). This matches up with the usual early adopter profile, the people who would have bought the iPad on its opening weekend.”

So the problem is … Class? Hands?

“…  where geeks go first, the general public will follow.”