Please note that we're continuing this discussion
here (sort of). Fortunately, at the time you guys discovered the uploads to Kobo Writing Life, my downloader wasn't developed yet.
Quote:
Originally Posted by eschwartz
Of course, I really want an opt-in for MobileRead to operate as a "publisher" of the E-Book Uploads stuff, but someone would have to be willing to do that job.  |
I would be interested to look into it, if
- No manual labor is involved in the uploading process, because a machine can do that much more efficient and I don't want to waste valuable lifetime for something that can be automated.
- The resulting software gets freely licensed (GNU AGPLv3 and any later version) and can be run on a freely licensed operating system environment.
- The e-books which run through the process are in an openly specified format which is supported by freely licensed implementations, no DRM gets applied to them by a distribution channel, and they're in the Public Domain and/or licensed under CC0 or CC BY-SA. Note that I have no plans to waste time on titles under NC clause, as having to wait another 100 years till a work can be distributed in print (come on, one can't give printed books away gratis), on sites which have advertisement on them or are otherwise involved in commercial action, can be installed on a device which is sold with the library on it, or services can be offered to improve the text, layout or whatever based on donations or crowdfunding etc.
- The uploads are not limited to just Kobo, but may include other distribution sites and channels as well.
- There is at least some minimal support by staff and the community, because there are legal, technical and organizational issues to resolve beforehand.
- I don't have to operate the software because I can't keep track about what liabilities mobileread has resolved or is prepared to take, and you guys are already doing it anyways. I would support the operation of course.
as I work on this topic anyway.
That said, I'm taking a slightly different approach to solve the same problem of scam offerings, which is not to license the original content restrictively in order to prevent people from doing useful things, but to make participating e-books entierely free, so the “official versions” can flood every shop, distribution channel and web site without legal risk. I would also like to encourage commercial exploitation, as long as such isn't carried out in a restrictive manner (libre, not necessarily gratis), with the intend and default to support mobileread and uploaders with earnings, if any (which doesn't prevent other parties from selling, but everyone would be able to undercut to their best ability, which may come down to gratis).
In the future, I imagine shops to be mere branding and curation anyway, and they'll hopefully all link to a common repository of libre digital texts, be it from mobileread or more likely the
Internet Archive, which already archives your uploads with certain assumptions regarding legal permission.