independent author on what Sony demands to list her books - Page 4

NatCh · 12-07-2006, 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sic

I lost you Natch...

What I was getting at is that Google is basically scanning every book they can get their hands on, they could provide Hadrien's notional "HUGE database of books" for plagiarism checks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hadrien

Well what you need is to ocr these images and get the text. Finding similarities between 2 texts is something really easy for a company such as google (that's part of how they can search the web).

About that: since the Google book search page advertises that you can "Search the full text of books and discover new ones" -- doesn't that suggest that Google might be OCRing those scanned holdings?

sic · 12-07-2006, 12:59 PM

Sure they are OCRing the books

taralon · 12-07-2006, 05:48 PM

As a distributor, AFAIK, Sony would only be liable if they did not 'to the best of their knowledge' ascertain whether or not you are the original copyright holder. IE, they ask you, and probably make you sign something stating such and that you assume full liability for any and all copyright infringements. If you say yes I am the copyright holder for "A cheap copy of Heinlein" then they are set. If it turns out that you ripped "A cheap copy of Heinlein" straight from his works and are *not* the copyright holder then you are directly liable, and Sony just points the lawyers in the right direction.

If they get a bunch of garbage submitted, well, buyer beware. There's a lot of garbage on iTunes as well. I don't go willy nilly buying songs off of it unless I know the band and have heard the song previously.

Quote:

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

But they still have to filter out, in some way, the possible liability creating works that exist. Do the companies that translate furnish such service? Do they have access to proof readers? Are there enough reading critics hired to sift through what garbage there could be?

NatCh · 12-07-2006, 06:04 PM

Hmm. This gives me a poll idea.

Hadrien · 12-07-2006, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sic

Sure they are OCRing the books

Yep, they do OCR, yet, you can't get any text from a book, just images. That's how dumb Google Books is..

NatCh · 12-07-2006, 06:43 PM

Well, if they gave us access to the actual texts they'd have some serious copyright issues in a heartbeat.

sic · 12-07-2006, 07:14 PM

Why would they have copyright issues?

Another related crazy idea:

I've learned on this forum (or was it teleread?) that even though a work is out of copyright e.g. Iliad by Homer, the translation can still be under copyright.
Well... this makes sense, the translator guy is working hard, it's his intellectual property etc.

How about this, here comes the crazy part
I would publish works in ROT13 language.
Can I do that? Are there any lawyers around?

Usually a publisher owns the rights to publish a book in a certain language e.g. in English.
I would contact the author and buy publishing rights in ROT13 language.
Now, ROT13 is not really a language... it's replacing each character by whichever characters follows it 13 places forward in the alphabet.
e.g. ``Good Morning'' becomes ``Tbbq zbeavat!''

I would then sell ebooks, in ROT13 language.
My customers probably would not speak ROT13, but their reader program would have a plugin, that performs machine translation back to English. (so they wouldn't care

)

Am I crazy or did I just circumwent the copyright protection system?

NatCh · 12-07-2006, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sic

Why would they have copyright issues?

'cause the stuff is still under copyright, and they aren't the copyright holders.

ROT13 is an interesting idea, but I think converting it back to plain english would probably run afoul of the DMCA.

yvanleterrible · 12-08-2006, 09:14 AM

Just an idea...

Some people complained that there were numerous typos and differences from original texts in the books they bought from Connect. Could they be identity tracks, like watermarks, to identify the provenance of a book in a piracy judgement?

NatCh · 12-08-2006, 10:43 AM

Nah, I think it's more likely that they're just laziness.

sic · 12-08-2006, 12:02 PM

I don't think it would violate the DMCA.
You're not breaking an encryption.
You are using machine translation, translating from ROT13 _language_.
Well, if you can convince the lawyers that ROT13 is a language. So my point is: can you do that? Who decides what is a language?

HarryT · 12-08-2006, 01:27 PM

Well an alphabet certainly isn't a "language", and that's all your changing. If you write an English sentence using the Greek alphabet, or the Arabic alphabet, or the Cyrillic alphabet, the sentence is still in English. There's nothing to force you to print English using the Roman alphabet. You're not changing the content by using ROT13, just re-mapping the alphabet.

sic · 12-08-2006, 02:49 PM

yeah...

I probably couldn't convince the court saying
- Why are you questioning the grammar of my language or the origin of words?

I'll start another thread about this as we're getting off topic
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8933

RWood · 12-08-2006, 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

Just an idea...

Some people complained that there were numerous typos and differences from original texts in the books they bought from Connect. Could they be identity tracks, like watermarks, to identify the provenance of a book in a piracy judgement?

In theory the file is keyed to work with only one installation of CONNECT and on the devices registered under that installation. If copies of the text are distributed that contain that specific code fragment then yes, they have a way to track where the leak started. Since the typos are (from what I have gathered) consistant from one copy to another on the books from Sony, it is most likely that they are the result of lack of final proofing in their rush to get the Reader and support materials out for the Christmas 2006 season.

yvanleterrible · 12-08-2006, 04:15 PM

I was thinking mainly of printed versions and scans of them.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
How to print list of books in SONY Reader Library software	keeska	Sony Reader	4	10-12-2013 06:38 AM
How do I sort the author list by first name?	Over	Calibre	2	10-02-2010 09:03 AM
Looking for Recommendations for Independent Books	SlowRain	Reading Recommendations	4	08-09-2010 12:28 AM
Author List	salty_seadog	Sony Reader	7	03-31-2009 01:37 PM
Author List on 505?	hish747	Sony Reader	2	12-18-2007 05:11 PM

12-07-2006, 12:59 PM	#47
sic Addict Posts: 202 Karma: 692 Join Date: Oct 2006 Device: SONY reader	Sure they are OCRing the books

12-07-2006, 06:04 PM	#49
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	Hmm. This gives me a poll idea.

12-07-2006, 06:43 PM	#51
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	Well, if they gave us access to the actual texts they'd have some serious copyright issues in a heartbeat.

12-07-2006, 07:14 PM	#52
sic Addict Posts: 202 Karma: 692 Join Date: Oct 2006 Device: SONY reader	Why would they have copyright issues? Another related crazy idea: I've learned on this forum (or was it teleread?) that even though a work is out of copyright e.g. Iliad by Homer, the translation can still be under copyright. Well... this makes sense, the translator guy is working hard, it's his intellectual property etc. How about this, here comes the crazy part I would publish works in ROT13 language. Can I do that? Are there any lawyers around? Usually a publisher owns the rights to publish a book in a certain language e.g. in English. I would contact the author and buy publishing rights in ROT13 language. Now, ROT13 is not really a language... it's replacing each character by whichever characters follows it 13 places forward in the alphabet. e.g. ``Good Morning'' becomes ``Tbbq zbeavat!'' I would then sell ebooks, in ROT13 language. My customers probably would not speak ROT13, but their reader program would have a plugin, that performs machine translation back to English. (so they wouldn't care ) Am I crazy or did I just circumwent the copyright protection system?

12-08-2006, 09:14 AM	#54
yvanleterrible Reborn Paper User Posts: 8,616 Karma: 15446734 Join Date: May 2006 Location: Que Nada Device: iPhone8, iPad Air	Just an idea... Some people complained that there were numerous typos and differences from original texts in the books they bought from Connect. Could they be identity tracks, like watermarks, to identify the provenance of a book in a piracy judgement?

12-08-2006, 10:43 AM	#55
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	Nah, I think it's more likely that they're just laziness.

12-08-2006, 12:02 PM	#56
sic Addict Posts: 202 Karma: 692 Join Date: Oct 2006 Device: SONY reader	I don't think it would violate the DMCA. You're not breaking an encryption. You are using machine translation, translating from ROT13 _language_. Well, if you can convince the lawyers that ROT13 is a language. So my point is: can you do that? Who decides what is a language?

12-08-2006, 01:27 PM	#57
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Well an alphabet certainly isn't a "language", and that's all your changing. If you write an English sentence using the Greek alphabet, or the Arabic alphabet, or the Cyrillic alphabet, the sentence is still in English. There's nothing to force you to print English using the Roman alphabet. You're not changing the content by using ROT13, just re-mapping the alphabet.

12-08-2006, 02:49 PM	#58
sic Addict Posts: 202 Karma: 692 Join Date: Oct 2006 Device: SONY reader	yeah... I probably couldn't convince the court saying - Why are you questioning the grammar of my language or the origin of words? I'll start another thread about this as we're getting off topic https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8933

12-08-2006, 04:15 PM	#60
yvanleterrible Reborn Paper User Posts: 8,616 Karma: 15446734 Join Date: May 2006 Location: Que Nada Device: iPhone8, iPad Air	I was thinking mainly of printed versions and scans of them.

Advert

Advert