Are Fair Use Rights coming to an end?

speedlever · 07-18-2011, 07:00 AM

Copied from Apprentice Alf's Blog:

"As we have said many times, we are strongly against piracy. But we are for “fair-use” rights.

Pirates can and do create ebooks even if no digital copy of the book exists (Harry Potter anyone?). They have been doing that for a long time. Pirates can always fall back on scanning a hard copy and creating a pdf.

Therefore, DRM can not really do anything to prevent actual ebook piracy.

The truth is that DRM is actually about enabling vendor lock-in. Forcing you to stay with the vendor given your large investment in ebooks so that they can enforce a license agreement to “rent” you the book at prices far above “rental” prices and approaching or surpassing full paper book prices. Vendors like Amazon want to take away your “fair use” rights. They do not want you to be able to archive the book as html (so it never gets lost) and they do not want you to convert it to your favourite reader format.

The problem is Amazon is now getting nasty about it.

In the space of a few short months, their developers have completely revamped their “secure storage” of the information needed to remove the DRM on both of their Kindle for PC and Kindle for Mac applications.

They have now added code to their Kindle application that tries to prevent a debugger from attaching, detects when a debugger is being used, and literally changes the path the code takes on the fly depending on whether the process with that pid is being debugged or not. So any use of a debugger will result in deliberately incorrect information/code paths being selected with incorrect data DRM data being used which will result in ebooks that won’t open triggering the need to “re-register” with Amazon.

It has been a good fight to protect our fair use rights, but given the fast approach of encrypted binaries and sandboxing, coupled with now active detection/counter-measures for using a debugger, it is a fight we are very soon going to lose. I hope Amazon and others like them are proud of themselves."

cfrizz · 07-18-2011, 07:07 AM

If there are a lot of people like me, we don't even know WTH any of the above is to get upset about.

tubemonkey · 07-18-2011, 07:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cfrizz

If there are a lot of people like me, we don't even know WTH any of the above is to get upset about.

I'm with you.

speedlever · 07-18-2011, 07:15 AM

It is about the ability to read the books of your choice on the device of your choice. Pure and simple.

I, for one, do not wish to be locked into purchasing ebooks from any one source but prefer to buy my ebooks where ever I choose and be able to read them on my device(s) of choice.

tubemonkey · 07-18-2011, 07:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by speedlever

It is about the ability to read the books of your choice on the device of your choice. Pure and simple.

Your ability to do so is governed by two factors: the rights owner and the law. As long as you don't run afoul of either, there's no problem. But, if breaking DRM violates either, then you have a problem; not them.

The correct action is to lobby for change; not break DRM.

speedlever · 07-18-2011, 07:26 AM

Ok, so I am lobbying for change... here!

tubemonkey · 07-18-2011, 07:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by speedlever

Ok, so I am lobbying for change... here!

Good; I'll join you. I'm not thrilled with the current situation one bit.

Kali Yuga · 07-18-2011, 07:55 AM

You're quoting a discontinued blog as evidence for your position?

Seriously?

CommonReader · 07-18-2011, 08:06 AM

Well, I'm counting on our Indian friends to tackle that problem. Plenty of knowledge about software and not encumbered by the DMA.

DiapDealer · 07-18-2011, 08:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

You're quoting a discontinued blog as evidence for your position?

Seriously?

For a discontinued blog, it has amazingly recent posts, comments and updates.

Alf retired... the blog didn't. The OP's quote was posted just yesterday.

elcreative · 07-18-2011, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

You're quoting a discontinued blog as evidence for your position?

Seriously?

Nobody said that the blog died when Alf retired... hence the number of times people are referred to it and the current postings...

Ravensknight · 07-18-2011, 08:48 AM

Just got this message from Dark Reversers comments. I am sad. Is this same issue happening with the other drm schemes, or is it just Amazon?

Catlady · 07-18-2011, 09:34 AM

Translation, please. What has Amazon done?

speedlever · 07-18-2011, 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Catlady

Translation, please. What has Amazon done?

I edited the OP to include the entire note which will answer your question.

Ravensknight · 07-18-2011, 09:59 AM

Making it harder and harder [until it is almost impossible] to get rid of their drm so you can do what you want with your books.

07-18-2011, 07:00 AM	#1
speedlever Fanatic Posts: 592 Karma: 138200 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: NC, USA Device: PW2014, PW2012, iPad Pro	Are Fair Use Rights coming to an end? Copied from Apprentice Alf's Blog: "As we have said many times, we are strongly against piracy. But we are for “fair-use” rights. Pirates can and do create ebooks even if no digital copy of the book exists (Harry Potter anyone?). They have been doing that for a long time. Pirates can always fall back on scanning a hard copy and creating a pdf. Therefore, DRM can not really do anything to prevent actual ebook piracy. The truth is that DRM is actually about enabling vendor lock-in. Forcing you to stay with the vendor given your large investment in ebooks so that they can enforce a license agreement to “rent” you the book at prices far above “rental” prices and approaching or surpassing full paper book prices. Vendors like Amazon want to take away your “fair use” rights. They do not want you to be able to archive the book as html (so it never gets lost) and they do not want you to convert it to your favourite reader format. The problem is Amazon is now getting nasty about it. In the space of a few short months, their developers have completely revamped their “secure storage” of the information needed to remove the DRM on both of their Kindle for PC and Kindle for Mac applications. They have now added code to their Kindle application that tries to prevent a debugger from attaching, detects when a debugger is being used, and literally changes the path the code takes on the fly depending on whether the process with that pid is being debugged or not. So any use of a debugger will result in deliberately incorrect information/code paths being selected with incorrect data DRM data being used which will result in ebooks that won’t open triggering the need to “re-register” with Amazon. It has been a good fight to protect our fair use rights, but given the fast approach of encrypted binaries and sandboxing, coupled with now active detection/counter-measures for using a debugger, it is a fight we are very soon going to lose. I hope Amazon and others like them are proud of themselves." Last edited by speedlever; 07-18-2011 at 10:00 AM. Reason: Edited to include the entire note from the developer(s)

07-18-2011, 07:15 AM	#4
speedlever Fanatic Posts: 592 Karma: 138200 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: NC, USA Device: PW2014, PW2012, iPad Pro	It is about the ability to read the books of your choice on the device of your choice. Pure and simple. I, for one, do not wish to be locked into purchasing ebooks from any one source but prefer to buy my ebooks where ever I choose and be able to read them on my device(s) of choice. Last edited by speedlever; 07-18-2011 at 01:24 PM. Reason: Deleted unnecessary text

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Coming to the end of an era in publishing	The Old Man	News	5	05-26-2010 03:39 PM
eBooks and rights	seagull	Reading Recommendations	4	03-10-2010 11:49 AM
Bragging Rights!	CCampbell202	Astak EZReader	17	03-01-2010 10:52 PM
End of the year coming up fast..	AprilHare	Sony Reader	1	11-03-2009 10:30 AM
Amazon Kindle coming to Walmart by the end of the month [April Fools]	Nate the great	News	58	04-01-2009 11:05 PM

07-18-2011, 07:07 AM	#2
cfrizz Wizard Posts: 1,579 Karma: 36389706 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Quincy, MA Device: Samsung 54A, Kobo Libra H2O, Samsung S6 Lite	If there are a lot of people like me, we don't even know WTH any of the above is to get upset about.

07-18-2011, 07:26 AM	#6
speedlever Fanatic Posts: 592 Karma: 138200 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: NC, USA Device: PW2014, PW2012, iPad Pro	Ok, so I am lobbying for change... here!

07-18-2011, 07:55 AM	#8
Kali Yuga Professional Contrarian Posts: 2,045 Karma: 3289631 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle 4 No Touchie	You're quoting a discontinued blog as evidence for your position? Seriously?

07-18-2011, 08:06 AM	#9
CommonReader Fanatic Posts: 528 Karma: 2530000 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: Sony PRS-T3, PRS-650, Vaio Tap 11, iPad Mini	Well, I'm counting on our Indian friends to tackle that problem. Plenty of knowledge about software and not encumbered by the DMA.

07-18-2011, 08:48 AM	#12
Ravensknight Serpent Rider Posts: 1,123 Karma: 10219804 Join Date: Jun 2009 Device: Sony 350; Nook STR; Oasis	Just got this message from Dark Reversers comments. I am sad. Is this same issue happening with the other drm schemes, or is it just Amazon?

07-18-2011, 09:34 AM	#13
Catlady Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,423 Karma: 52734361 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Kindle Fire, Kindle Paperwhite, AGPTek Bluetooth Clip	Translation, please. What has Amazon done?

07-18-2011, 09:59 AM	#15
Ravensknight Serpent Rider Posts: 1,123 Karma: 10219804 Join Date: Jun 2009 Device: Sony 350; Nook STR; Oasis	Making it harder and harder [until it is almost impossible] to get rid of their drm so you can do what you want with your books.

Advert

Advert