Quote:
Originally Posted by Ben Thornton
Thanks for the info. As a fellow occupant of Airstrip One, this is a concern!
We appear to be in (what seems to be to be) a crazy situation, where you are at risk of imprisonment for a criminal offence if you purchase a book and strip the DRM to read it more comfortably, while being only at risk of a civil suit for not paying at all and downloading from the darknet.
It's surprising because a lot of people on the site speak blithely about stripping DRM, but are much more cagey about downloading without paying. Perhaps they fear moral censure more than the law.
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Yes indeed. “If that is what the law supposes then the law is an ass.” I actually do not feel even any moral misgivings about removing DRM from an e-book I have legitimately purchased when it is done for the purposes of assuring I will always have a useable copy and to allow me to view it on whatever device I choose. As I stated previously though if I then distribute the file with DRM removed to others allowing them a copy that they have note paid for I think I have committed a criminal act; as have they. Theft.
The mention of “one time pad” (sometime also called 'tear sheet') piqued my interest. The problem with looking at DRM only from an encryption standpoint is that generally the security of encryption depends on the fact that the intended recipient has equal interest in maintaining the security.; something not the case in the discussion here.
It is my opinion that the best the ebook sellers like Amazon can hope for is a carrot and stick approach. The stick is making breaking the DRM difficult enough and holding out the possibility of legal sanctions. The carrot is pricing the ebook downloads at a point that it is not worthwhile to make the effort to break the DRM for the purpose of illegally sharing the file.