Sharing ebooks???

[skypilotpete]

I live in Australia, have a Sony e-reader, and have been continually frustrated by how few books are available to me. Like many others, I have bitten the bullet and worked out how to strip DRM from Amazon ebooks, so I can buy them and convert to Epub using Calibre. Now I am faced with the question of whether it is safe for me to share these converted ebooks with friends - as I would feel entitled to do with any other book that I purchased. I am aware that once I give a converted ebook to anyone else, what happens to it then is out of my hands. I would like to be sure that there isn't some hidden metadata remaining within a converted ebook that would allow Amazon to identify me as the original purchaser if one of my ebooks ends up on a news group or torrent site. I will certainly ask my friends not to do this, but I can't guarantee that it won't happen. Can anyone tell me if I could be identified from something within an un-drm'd, converted file?

[OtterBooks]

Amazon writes their initials with a magic marker on the back of all the files. I'm guessing it's wiped clean of original ownership after stripping, so you can probably remanufacture and distribute a copy of the ebook to your friend without worry. Maybe someone else can illuminate.

[HarryT]

Lending someone a physical book is a completely different scenario to giving someone a COPY of an eBook. With the physical book, there's only one copy of it, which different people are reading in turn. That's absolutely fine, and is perfectly legal. When you give someone a copy of an eBook, you're creating two copies where previously there was only one: you've broken copyright law, unless you're creating the extra copy with the permission of the copyright holder.

My advice would be "don't do it".

[Poppaea]

Originally Posted by skypilotpete

I live in Australia, have a Sony e-reader, and have been continually frustrated by how few books are available to me. Like many others, I have bitten the bullet and worked out how to strip DRM from Amazon ebooks, so I can buy them and convert to Epub using Calibre. Now I am faced with the question of whether it is safe for me to share these converted ebooks with friends - as I would feel entitled to do with any other book that I purchased. I am aware that once I give a converted ebook to anyone else, what happens to it then is out of my hands. I would like to be sure that there isn't some hidden metadata remaining within a converted ebook that would allow Amazon to identify me as the original purchaser if one of my ebooks ends up on a news group or torrent site. I will certainly ask my friends not to do this, but I can't guarantee that it won't happen. Can anyone tell me if I could be identified from something within an un-drm'd, converted file?

Well this is funny. You were asked by the copyright owners not to copy and distribute the file to someone else. Now this is just what you want to do and now you are wondering if your ""friends" from the torrent site won't do it if ask to...

Well, yes, that's a good one. You may consider regular postings in the joke-of-the-day-section.

Apart from that, as far as I understood the buyer information is not removed when stripping. Why should it. The stripping plugins were created for personal use only, not for law breaking purposes.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by skypilotpete

Can anyone tell me if I could be identified from something within an un-drm'd, converted file?

I don't know, but it certainly wouldn't be impossible to do. All types of files can have meta-data in them that isn't normally visible to the end user. The person who first leaked one of the Harry Potter books was traced through meta-data that pointed to his digital camera, for example.

Are they books that aren't already being widely pirated? If not, I doubt anyone would care.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by skypilotpete

I live in Australia, have a Sony e-reader, and have been continually frustrated by how few books are available to me. Like many others, I have bitten the bullet and worked out how to strip DRM from Amazon ebooks, so I can buy them and convert to Epub using Calibre. Now I am faced with the question of whether it is safe for me to share these converted ebooks with friends - as I would feel entitled to do with any other book that I purchased. I am aware that once I give a converted ebook to anyone else, what happens to it then is out of my hands. I would like to be sure that there isn't some hidden metadata remaining within a converted ebook that would allow Amazon to identify me as the original purchaser if one of my ebooks ends up on a news group or torrent site. I will certainly ask my friends not to do this, but I can't guarantee that it won't happen. Can anyone tell me if I could be identified from something within an un-drm'd, converted file?

You shouldn't be even considering this. It is illegal.

[rakulos]

The trouble with sharing information (like an ebook) is that once it's out there it's out for good. There's no such thing as 'just sharing with a friend' - if you de DRM for yourself then all well and good but if you share you can pretty much guarantee that at some point it'll end up on a torrent site - might be next week or next year - but you're just kidding yourself if you think otherwise.

This pretty much underpins the whole issue of a book as information rather than a physical object - ebook sharing makes the publishers push DRM, if you share you just make a bad situation worst for everyone. You'll be able to tell the day someone comes up with a DRM free solution that keeps the authors and publishers happy as well due to all the cheering on sites like this

[Farhad]

Don't worry about the doubleplusgoodthinking folks who would place legality over morality or ethics, even when the laws are immoral or stupid. If anything at all, history proves that immoral and stupid laws can only be brought down and eventually abolished when thinking folks refuse to comply with them. The same goes for laws which try to prevent sharing among friends (which the doubleplusgoodthinking party members refer to as murder, assault and grand theft on the high seas).
To answer your question, I would convert the books you have to an open, transparent format (like FB2) which allows you to see exactly what is in the file you want to share.
Don't be discouraged by some of the reactions here. That is to be expected. I assure you that all of the self-righteous folks who preach compliance with immoral laws also have their copied books, mp3 files, movies, etc
Lastly, resistance is not futile - just check out these folks. There are "pirate" parties formed all over the world and, sooner or later, these stupid and immoral laws will go the way of all stupid and immoral laws.
You can find a primer on this important topic here and here.
Bottom line: don't ever let the greed of some prevent you from doing the right thing!
Cheers!
Farhad

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by skypilotpete

I would like to be sure that there isn't some hidden metadata remaining within a converted ebook that would allow Amazon to identify me as the original purchaser if one of my ebooks ends up on a news group or torrent site.

How about this: assume there is some identifying feature and make your decision based on that assumption. Safety first.

[neilmarr]

There's an element of trust and risk in publishing in any form. I found this over decades in my former life at the sharp end of mass-read daily journalism. All things considered, what you lose on the swings, you gain on the roundabouts.

A treebook can be scanned and copied almost as easily as an ebook (ask the admirable Project Gutenberg which employs the system legally and generously to great effect).

From a publisher's (and an author's and editor's) POV, I think DRM-free ebooks worth the risk for the good will it generates. As far as I know, our own policy has never been abused yet and print and ebook sales are in very good shape.

Bigger houses with blockbusters by brand-name authors may feel some cause to differ. But I ain't so sure.

The greatest recent publishing phenomena is, arguably, JKR's Harry Potter Books. She flatly refused to allow her publishers to offer ebook editions -- yet every single Potter tome was freely available for download from pirate sites within a day or two of hardback release, they swamped the marketplace before paperback releases of the titles.

Plainly these must have started as scans from the treebook pages. Plainly legitimate sales didn't suffer. I believe, though, JKR is now re-thinking her stance against ebooks and that there's a ready market of HONEST buyers awaiting them with bated breath.

It's all a matter of a little give and take. Give the honest customer all due respect and full right of ownership ... and take the risk. That's certainly what we've done and intend to continue doing.

If a book I want to buy carries DRM padlocks, that shouldn't matter to me because my English language books tend to be owner-use exclusive anyway ... but I do feel insulted by the implied lack of trust.

Cheers. Neil

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by neilmarr

From a publisher's (and an author's and editor's) POV, I think DRM-free ebooks worth the risk for the good will it generates. As far as I know, our own policy has never been abused yet and print and ebook sales are in very good shape.

DRM-free publishing is admirable, but it's a completely different issue to what the OP is proposing to do: give copies of eBooks he's purchased to all his friends. That is "abuse of the system", no matter which way you look at it.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Farhad

Don't worry about the doubleplusgoodthinking folks who would place legality over morality or ethics, even when the laws are immoral or stupid. If anything at all, history proves that immoral and stupid laws can only be brought down and eventually abolished when thinking folks refuse to comply with them. The same goes for laws which try to prevent sharing among friends (which the doubleplusgoodthinking party members refer to as murder, assault and grand theft on the high seas).
To answer your question, I would convert the books you have to an open, transparent format (like FB2) which allows you to see exactly what is in the file you want to share.
Don't be discouraged by some of the reactions here. That is to be expected. I assure you that all of the self-righteous folks who preach compliance with immoral laws also have their copied books, mp3 files, movies, etc
Lastly, resistance is not futile - just check out these folks. There are "pirate" parties formed all over the world and, sooner or later, these stupid and immoral laws will go the way of all stupid and immoral laws.
You can find a primer on this important topic here and here.
Bottom line: don't ever let the greed of some prevent you from doing the right thing!
Cheers!
Farhad

The right thing is not theft.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by HarryT

DRM-free publishing is admirable, but it's a completely different issue to what the OP is proposing to do: give copies of eBooks he's purchased to all his friends. That is "abuse of the system", no matter which way you look at it.

Agreed.

[kennyc]

Also some of the publishers and drm systems provide a mechanism for loaning books which is certainly legal and aboveboard.

[drofgnal]

The only way I've shared an ebook is by actually loaning my Kindle with the book on it to someone. I assume this is considered a legit loaning of a book just as loaning an actual hardback copy.