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Something nobody's mentioned is that watermarks could allow legal transfer of ebooks. (Not duplication, transfer. I'm sure you know the difference.) Some method might need to be developed to record the transfer-or maybe they'd leave it up to the individual. Such things are common for other licenses. Sometimes the 'owner' wants to keep track of who's got the license (i.e. the transfer needs to be registered) and sometimes it only matters when something happens. In the latter case it's up to the users to keep their own records of the transfer-which often isn't done & can end up penalizing an innocent party. People rarely understand how important it is to keep transaction records.
One other point is the use of DRM by libraries. First, the essence of watermarking is that every 'copy' is unique in some way. There's no big trick about doing that so there's no reason why libraries shouldn't be able to apply their own watermarks to the copies they 'lend'. As with purchased copies this would allow re-lending. (I've often checked books out of the library for people who are handicapped. I'm not sure what would constitute a handicap for an ebook, maybe not having Internet? But I see no legal reason why I shouldn't be able to check out & 'return' an ebook for somebody else.)
Regarding privacy invasion, it's already there with almost anything you buy. The only way to avoid it is to pay cash-and even then some places ask for ID. (I actually had one place say they couldn't complete the sale without my name & address-but that seemed to be a limitation of their point of sale system since they readily completed the sale when I told the clerk to feel free to fill in their own name & address.) In both cases (watermarks or non-cash purchases) a court order *should* be needed to access the information-but no organization has been totally able to keep secrets so whatever is recorded you can expect it will get out. (Remember that not even the CIA was able to keep a Russian mole out. About the only place that I haven't heard of secrets leaking from is the NSA-and I expect that it's simply not hearing about it rather than not having happened.)
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