Quote:
Originally Posted by stickybuns
I still say that watermarks are intended to help identify people illegally distributing and pirating ebooks (although I'll acquiesce to the argument that a side benefit may be that it can prove ownership).
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DiapDealer
You're not crazy or naive. I'll take this sort of "piracy deterrent" over the standard DRM (that locks you into specific devices) any day of the week.
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Right, the water mark is more to discourage "sharing" than to prove ownership. However, it is still just like locks on houses, it only keeps the honest honest. If someone wants in and they don't mind breaking a window or kicking down the door they are in.
The benefit of a watermark over DRM is that the publisher/author is saying we trust you to not give this to others and we want you to enjoy it on any device you have, from your PC to your Kindle, Sony, DSi, Gameboy, whatever.
We all of course know removing a watermark will be just as easy as removing DRM. While I have removed DRM on my purchases to use it on an alternate device, I have never removed a watermark on the ebooks I have bought that use them. Both Pragmatic programmers and Manning Books put watermarks in their PDFs.
Why is it every thread on MR seems to move towards copyright and DRM? Hmmm...
BOb