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Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan
Exactly. All hardware and software vendors must adapt the system for it to work. But that is not an impossible requirement, any more than it has been impossible to get all vendors together on any other hardware or software standard.
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Other hardware standards didn't have over a decade of diverse approaches to build on; other software standards didn't have 40 years of variety.
How, exactly, would such a system be implemented? Laws would be written that say "ebooks can only be sold to people using devices with the FS-10 (Fingerprint Scanner 10) software and hardware?" Who would be allowed to develop such software and hardware--and therefore have a stranglehold on the entire ebook industry? Would the devices be compatible with Windows and Linux machines? Would they be sold outside the US?
How would you prevent the current bootleg systems, like the ones that work with the Harry Potter books? What would prevent people from cracking the ebooks or scanning physical books & releasing those versions?
How long to you expect this switch to take--would people be required to give up their old Kindles for new FS10 Kindles? Would Jetbook be required to stop selling their devices?
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It just takes agreement that it is the best way to progress the industry... versus doing nothing, and allowing piracy to prevent the industry from ever being profitable.
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The industry's being plenty profitable now, for a lot of authors.
And our laws aren't designed to "protect the publishing industry;" they're designed to balance freedoms with societal stability, including some measure of economic stability. Publishers who discover that people won't pay them enough to keep in business have the right to drop out of business, just like people who don't like the restrictions on ebooks have the right to stop reading. Putting extra roadblocks in front of those people won't create more sales.
I don't buy DRM now; I won't be buying hardware-enforced DRM in the future. I don't expect my kids will, either. And while I'm in the minority, it's not a tiny, obscure minority -- and without a worldwide change in laws and draconian enforcement techniques, stricter DRM isn't going to save the industry. It'll just drive more people away from mainstream ebook purchases, whether that's indie publishers, bootleg ebooks, or other forms of entertainment.