Quote:
Originally Posted by Penforhire
JS, another resolution to the library dilemma is a dedicated library e-reader that you lend, with library-only access port. That assumes the hardware becomes much cheaper and more durable. But it is another long-term answer.
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If you put hardware in the hands of people, it will get hacked. Also, this requires going to the library physically, at which point you may as well just get a paper book (also, limits the ability for libraries to sell out-of-district access).
This approach sounds like the old CVS "disposable" digital camera hack. They sold cheap digital cameras and they expected you to drop it off when it was "full", pay them to extract your pictures/videos, and buy another $30 disposable. Of course as soon as people had the hardware it was a trivial task to hack it so that you could extract the contents yourself and reuse the camera as much as you like, thus giving you a full digital camera for only $30. This would be a little different if you're expected to return the reader itself, but I'm sure someone would come up with a hack that leaves no fingerprints such that you could rip the book off the device leaving it undamaged in the process.