Quote:
Originally Posted by netseeker
Relax people. Re-Read the draft and then take a look at the comparatively few amount of current books that are published as special, accessible versions for visually impaired people. It's a shame! Authors and copyright holders (including me) tend to forget these people. This is just the bitter truth and shows why new rules for visually impaired people are necessary in our "modern society".
I couldn't care less if visually impaired people are allowed to get my works for free (or low-priced). Even commercial redistribution to other visually impaired people doesn't give me headache. They aren't my customers now and offering a special version for visually impaired people is very often a money-losing business (far too few buyers). Just my two cents.
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I think that's a very honourable sentiment and obviously the right way to go - it's a great idea to allow organisations and individuals to create accessible versions of works for the visually impaired. However, I'm not entirely sure that it's the best idea to allow non-profits to do it regardless of whether or not someone else has already done it.
Suppose an author's publisher is creating an accessible version of a given work by that author. Now it is possible for visually impaired people to get to this work. However, someone with "legal access" to the work decides that it would be cooler for the visually impaired if they could just get it for free - so they do another accessible version and start distributing it. This will leave the publisher at a loss and make sure they don't bother to do an accessible version of the authors work next time. Will someone else? Who knows ...
Regards
Fake