Quote:
Originally Posted by barryem
I think it's unlikely Amazon is trying to avoid people cracking DRM. It doesn't seem to be something they care about beyond keeping publishers happy that they're safe. I often buy a book, remove DRM, do things like improve the TOC and send it back to my library to be read as a doc on my Kindles.
Because I value my relationship with Amazon I've discussed this a couple of times over the years with their support people. Both times I've been told they just don't care. I do buy the books. They know I bought them. They have no problem with me removing DRM. In fact one of the support guys wasn't familiar with this so he asked around and called me back and explained that some of the Amazon employees do the same thing.
Barry
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I sometimes think we get mixed up with who exactly Amazon is.
For sure, it is their employees or staff, and that includes coders, any of whom could be third party as well.
Then you have management, shareholders and owners.
It is probably a false dichotomy to imagine what staff care about is the same as what management care about. One get wages, other gets profits. The ones getting profits are more likely to care about how their providers of product feel, so more concerned about DRM and image.
Are the DRM loopholes in existence because management don't really care or because the coders are not as diligent as they should be, perhaps deliberately ... or perhaps both. There is also a case these days especially, that employers want things now, and for as cheap as possible, so that means things like coding are often rushed or planned to be delivered by a certain time frame, with no extra thought beyond what was agreed upon, occurring.
From managements perspective, they can kind of get away with seeming to be doing something, but not caring enough to make sure the loopholes are closed. They can plead it is not their fault.
One can also speculate about the number of non Kindle owners, who buy ebooks from Amazon, because they are more plentiful and often cheaper. They then strip the DRM and convert to epub. I can imagine there are a lot of people out there who do that. So maybe Amazon are leaving a loophole for them, as it is profit after all?
P.S. You can even speculate, that employed coders enjoy watching how things play out, and just like leaving Easter Eggs, have fun leaving loopholes ... all part of a game.