[Catlady]

Originally Posted by BoldlyDubious

Currently media vendors are treating their customers as small children. They are (with license-based DRM) physically preventing us from doing the things that the vendors don't want us to do (such as having a friend read a book of yours). You don't get a choice: with DRM in place, you cannot do these things. Just like when you keep a child in a crib... except that in that case you do that because you care about the child's safety, not yours.

They treat me like small child; you want to treat me as a criminal. I can easily overcome the first and go my own way; I may be marked for life by the second.

The only benefit of your proposal to me as a customer is illusive. I would "own" the e-book, but of course I couldn't truly do any with it, for fear of someone else's future behavior boomeranging back to me.

To get your freedom back, today you have to strip the DRM, thus doing something that at the very least violates the contract between you and the vendor, and in some places can get you in trouble with the law.

With my proposal, you get your freedom back. But with freedom comes the responsibility to think about what you do with it. Instead of acting carelessly and unthinkingly like a small child, you are now an adult and have to take decisions. As in all other aspects of life, if you act without thinking you risk to damage other people, but also risk to get damaged yourself.

That's just silly. We're talking about BOOKS, not firearms or booze or anything that could cause real damage if one acts irresponsibly. Your proposal means that a single act of sharing, deliberate or otherwise, can reverberate endlessly, for all time.

The current situation is similar to this one.
My neighbor Joe has a lawnmower. It's a good one, and there are people around that would be glad to steal it. I need to mow my lawn, so I go to Joe and ask for the use of his lawnmower. He says: ok, but I am attaching this heavy chain to it that links it to the wall of my house. You can use it, but of course you can't go around trees (the chain would jam) and you can't mow your back yard (the chain is too short). Finally, I don't want my lawnmower to be outside at night, so every night you have to bring it back in my own garage and then take it out again in the morning.

My proposal is like this, instead.
My neighbor Joe has a lawnmower. It's a good one, and there are people around that would be glad to steal it. I need to mow my lawn, so I go to Joe and ask for the use of his lawnmower. He says: ok, here it is. You can take it for as long as you need, and use it as you think appropriate. However, please be careful: it's a costly device and it would be bad if it got stolen. Bye!

So ... if the mower (the e-book) gets stolen while in my possession, let's blame Joe (the author/publisher) for not safeguarding his lawnmower (e-book), for trusting me (the customer) in the first place. Joe (the author/publisher) clearly should have chained it (DRMed it) and never let it out of his control.