Interesting one-cent read from Borders/Sony ebook store.

[Abisha]

As much as I deplore with every ounce of my being - Digital RESTRICTION Management, during my run on the Borders/Sony book store for "free" Christmas downloads, I also stumbled across the following book for only one-cent. It is still available. I guess for a single U.S. cent I will concede (begrudgingly just this once) that is okay to download a DRM stradled book. Go grab it:


The Scope of Tolerance: Studies on the Costs of Free Expression and Freedom of the Press
ISBN: 9780203003411
Print ISBN: 0415357578

Description:
"A new and stimulating assessment of the risks and limits of contemporary democracy. One of the dangers in any political system is that the principles that underlie and characterize it may, through their application, bring about its destruction. Liberal democracy is no exception. Moreover, because democracy is a relatively young phenomenon, it lacks experience in dealing with the pitfalls involved in the working of the system - the "catch" of democracy. "The Scope of Tolerance" is an interdisciplinary study concerned with the limits of tolerance, this "democratic catch", and the costs of freedom of expression. Rights are costly, and someone must pay for them. We can and should ask about the justification for bearing the costs, weighing them against the harms inflicted upon society as a result of a wide scope of tolerance. While recognizing that we have the need to express ourselves, we should also inquire about the justifications for tolerating the damaging speech and whether these are weighty enough.

This book combines theory and practice, examining issues of contention from philosophical, legal and media perspectives and covers such issues as: - media invasion into one's privacy - offensive speech - incitement - hate speech - Holocaust denial - media coverage of terrorism This book is essential reading for anyone who has research interests in political theory, extremism, and free speech. Raphael Cohen-Almagor teaches at the Department of Communication, and Library and Information Studies at the University of Haifa and is the Director of the Centre for Democratic Studies"

[Elfwreck]

It looks good; I'm considering getting it. "Considering" because getting anything other than the free books requires putting a credit card online--and while I don't object to that in general (although I really wish they'd take paypal instead), the minute-and-a-half-per-page-change that it takes to load on a dialup connection is insanely frustrating. (More frustration: Not being able to see the whole screen at once, because it doesn't fit into a 1024 pixel monitor.)

I am fairly convinced the Sony Bookstore doesn't want my business; they've certainly made it a horrible task to purchase anything from them.

(That said, I'll probably scrounge up the half-hour or so of dedicated shopping time to buy the book later this weekend.)

[koland]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

It looks good; I'm considering getting it. "Considering" because getting anything other than the free books requires putting a credit card online--and while I don't object to that in general (although I really wish they'd take paypal instead), the minute-and-a-half-per-page-change that it takes to load on a dialup connection is insanely frustrating. (More frustration: Not being able to see the whole screen at once, because it doesn't fit into a 1024 pixel monitor.)

I am fairly convinced the Sony Bookstore doesn't want my business; they've certainly made it a horrible task to purchase anything from them.

It's not much faster on DSL -- and if it times out, you have to exit the program and start over, as it can't attempt to reconnect. Their web site is much better, but you can't buy anything there -- and they wonder why the Kindle sells better?