Quote:
Originally Posted by odamizu
Let me test my understanding:
What is the likelihood that anti-circumvention laws will ever be tested and upheld in court against non-pirate readers who just want to read ebooks on the device of their choice?
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In the US?
Very low. On both counts.
Mostly because the publishers really have little interest in going after DeDRM tool users. Lots of posturing, lots of focus on hardening DRM, but little interest in going to court. It is too risky for them.
Books are not music and ebooks are not as easily digitized as music.
And books aren't consumed the way music is consumed.
The big threat to the music studios wasn't from disinfected music files but from ripped CD files, which are easy to produce, and there was no viable legal alternative at the turn of the century. What the studios were selling (full albums at $10+) was not what consumers wanted (cheap hit singles) when the first viable MP3 players appeared so there was a vacuum that first Napster and then Apple tried to fill.
The real problem, though, was that iTunes wasn't a complete solution (too tied to Apple hardware) and it came too late. The idea that music was easy to get for free was common knowledge and established even among the non-techie mainstream. "Casual" piracy of music is common even today. The only real counter is almost as big a problem: streaming music services.
eBooks, on the other hand, offered consumers a complete solution almost from the beginning of the Kindle era: thecommercial ebooks were and are, for the most part, reasonably priced and more convenient than piracy. And since there is little value in large ebook collections for mainstream customers ebook piracy has not yet become a mainstream practice.
If you look at the download counts for the tools, you'll find that tool users run in tens of thousands, *maybe* a hundred thousand or so, whereas Nook and Kobo can easily claim user bases in the ten million range and Kindle well over 50M.
The reality is that:
1- Most commercial ebook buyers are not inconvenienced enough by ebook prices or DRM to seek alternatives to either. eBooks have not become napsterized nor do they look to be napsterized any time soon.
2- Unlike music, there is an ample supply of quality, legally-free ebook content from the public domain, libraries, and promos.
3- The tools themselves work only on legally purchased books.
4- The number of people actually using the tools is low and most do it for personal use, not for online distribution.
For all the handwringing and paranoia on the publishing side, there really isn't much ebook piracy in the US, compared to the legal sales volume. And, given the various Fair Use precedents it is not a slam dunk win to go after a normal consumer even using DMCA.
"Casual" ebook piracy in the US is at worst petty shoplifting and not worth going after in court for the corporate publishers which is why they are so focused on hardening DRM to keep it at current low levels. Of course, too much hardening can prove counterproductive for the retailer and eventually the publishers. But since publishing doesn't really get the whole "big picture" thing they'll likely keep on pushing until they drive mainstream customers to piracy.
