Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
The point would be to permanently encrypt the file so it could only be read with readers sporting the same encryption code (which is why SSN was suggested... it's yours and yours alone). Someone else's reader, with their code based on their SSN (or whatever), wouldn't be able to read it. But every device you owned would.
It wouldn't restrict a file to 1 device. But it would restrict the file to 1 user. This might satisfy publishers looking for a rampant sharing solution.
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But it would restrict a file to only devices for which the decryption program was available. Again, eReader does this, but isn't available for either of the devices I currently use. What if I'd used an eReader-supported device earlier, and now I wanted to read my eReader books on my iLiad? I wrote to eReader last year and asked if they would support the iLiad. They said no. Good thing there's a utility to take off the DRM now, isn't there?
True "social DRM" where the user's identifying information is embedded in the file is fair, because the user can continue to read the file whenever they want. Put it in ePub in some bit of XML that the average user doesn't see, and you've accomplished everything DRM really does, without the technical drawbacks. Yes, people could find a way to strip it out. But generally they don't. I believe, for example, that someone was actually able to trace one of the people who posted Harry Potter digital photos online because of information included in the JPG file. They hadn't bothered to strip that out.
And again, I really don't think most of the people sharing books are cracking DRM'd commercial ebooks and passing them around. There's no "gift economy" value to a stunt like that. Anyone can do it. The files we're seeing are mostly scans of older books that aren't available as commercial ebooks. I suppose that could change, and the situation could come to resemble that with music and videos, but to be honest if ebooks become that popular, it would indicate such a shift in reading habits that I can't help but think that any publishers or authors would be happy with the outcome.