Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Maltby
It appears to me that media piracy for ebooks, has not become the criminal commercial operation that you see in some parts of the world for DVDs and CDs.
|
Ebook piracy has almost never been about profit... mostly, it's been about misguided philanthropy (on the givers' part) or raw acquisitiveness (on the takers' part). It is based on a social order of pure anarchy, what the individual wants, the individual gets, and thereby transcends the concerns of monetary value. It is counted under the abstract currency of
coup, and the winner has essentially the same prestige as the winner of a game of tag.
Put another way, ebook pirates are children, play-pirates, seeking to be king of the playground, and acting as if theirs is the only playground on Earth.
DRM isn't just about the play-pirates, as those who legitimately buy ebooks also circumvent DRM in order to format-shift their property. DRM is a tool, and when used properly, it can be a very effective one... but it is easy to misuse and abuse. The question of whether it "works" is much like the question of whether cars can move you efficiently, and trying to decide the question based on how many pedestrian fatalities they cause. It's just not that simple.