Thread: Tools 4.0
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Old 06-17-2011, 12:05 PM   #34
sadievan
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KevinH View Post
Hi,

This makes it sound so terrible. It may be technically correct but just to add some perspective:

It is currently legal/ethical in Canada (the home site of Mobileread I believe) to remove the DRM on an ebook as long as it is for personal use such as to archive for long-term storage, or convert so that it can be read on another reader you own. The only illegal or unethical issue is when it is used to create pirate copies.

The AA site that posts these tools specifically states that they are provided to support fair-use only, they refuse to support people who intend to use the tools for pirating purposes, that they love ebooks, authors, reading, and even ebook publishers and hope that everyone makes a profit so that new ebooks continue to be made and published, etc.

The only reason I buy ebooks (and I almost exclusively buy ebooks vs regular books now) is if I can remove the DRM and keep an archival copy (in html format) so that I never lose any book I buy. I don't sell my paper books now and I keep them and enjoy them again and again. No one company going out of business or dropping support can take away my paper books and they should not be able to do that to my ebooks either. Without these tools, I simply would not buy ebooks and my total book purchases would actually decrease. That said, I am totally against piracy and against not remunerating publishers and authors for their work. That is wrong.

As for Mobileread not allowing discussion of the specifics, I believe (someone please correct me if I am wrong) that Mobileread simply does not want to deal with all of the legal hassles from countries that have draconian laws that outlaw drm removal or software creation even for personal use because the laws there were written by lobbyist from industries that support DRM to trump "fair-use" and "common sense".

What I find truly unethical, is ebook sellers trying to take away your fair-use rights via questionable license agreements and then wanting to charge as much or more for what they are trying to "rent" to you. That is truly unethical and they all should be ashamed of themselves.

But that is another story.
Excellent post. Totally agree.

Carol
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