Quote:
Originally Posted by TallMomof2
IMO most people are honest and honorable if given a chance. The assumption of draconian DRM, which is what is used on ebooks, is that everyone is dishonest and will steal the IP and give it away to the world. I would like to be able to legally share some of my ebooks with close friends and relatives but I'm not legally allowed because I've supposedly purchased a license not a piece of property.
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Human nature (there's that phrase again) generally dictates that people will take the path of least resistance. When they see things that they believe they can take, without directly hurting someone and without reprisal... like an apple hanging on a farmer's tree... they tend to take it. When they know there's a mean hound in that orchard that will bite them if they try, or a nearby farmer with a shotgun, they generally won't.
This is why there are pirates, in a nutshell. They see it as easy to take a book, so they do. If they believe they will be caught and fined, they'll stop.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TallMomof2
Once again there will always be pirates, until the pirates can be targeted without seriously inconveniencing me or impinging upon my rights, an honest lawbiding consumer, then DRM is wrong. Especially since most of the ebooks on the Darknet aren't copies of ebooks but scanned and OCRed copies of pbooks that aren't available as ebooks! How the heck does adding DRM to ebooks stop that?
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I'm inconvenienced by the stoplight at my neighborhood's intersection, but I understand and appreciate why it is there, and have no problem tolerating it (and not running the red light).
DRM application, despite how it may seem to the individual, is
not assuming that
everyone is dishonest. It is a tool that is designed to deter the bulk of the dishonest people, while still giving honest people access to what they want (when the alternative would be not releasing the digital files to anyone at all). It may not work well--or even
at all--but when it's the only tool at their disposal, it's what they use. Hopefully they'll come up with better tools soon. And if we can help by coming up with a better idea, we should do that as fast as we can, to make us all happier.
In the meantime, if, as you say, DRM is too much of an inconvenience, you are exactly right to
not buy those e-books (I generally don't, either)... and just as important, to get in touch with the publisher and tell them why. If the publisher knows their DRM system only serves to tick you off, they will be more inclined to try and find a better way to do it. (You could pass on to them a few ideas, and even links to this forum... we've come up with a few good ideas to try around here.)