Buy vs license article

[screwballl]

This "comic" pretty much says it all, either way we will be criminals:

[CommonReader]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

I NEVER forget that most people would rather be honest people (usually, it's the path of least resistance, which makes it easy). However, as someone else put it, it only takes one dishonest person to spoil it for everyone else... especially with ebooks, as it takes just one dishonest person to make an ebook available to every net user on the planet, with potentially disastrous consequences. Compared to the old paradigm (one person steals one item), the ebook theft paradigm is simply too significant to be ignored by creators.

When I was at the Frankfurt Book Fair this year I heard several publishers voice the opinion that "as soon as I publish something in digital format it will be available for download somewhere". Well, DRM or no DRM, published as ebook or not, provided the book is of some interest for people it will be available for download rather sooner than later anyway. I would like to present the example of Natascha Kampusch's book "3,096 Days" to support my claim. In German the book is currently available as hardcover only. For some reason the publisher hasn't published an ebook version. Yet it literally takes less than 20 seconds to find at least two illegal high quality epub versions of the book for download. DRM is a hassle for the honest customers only. It does not protect the book from being made available for illegal downloads at all.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

This is exactly what I'm talking about! If the Fn drm wasn't on here there wouldn't be a problem! I have bought the books with my hard earned money, but unless I can find a reasonably priced tablet that ALSO accepts ADE drm I'm running the risk of either infecting my pc with a virus by getting them without it, or just stuck not being able to read them on whatever tablet I get.

This is just plain wrong!

I've been downloading films and TV shows for years and I never had problems with viruses. I suppose that it would depend on the website, but if the comments are positive and you don't do something stupid like downloading a zip file, you should be safe. You can see the names of the files in the torrent and you can select which to download.

The rest is just a matter of conscience but not all the people who upload files are evil incarnate. This was written by the uploader for the last torrent that I downloaded:

If you like this DVD then please buy it, good science-fiction series (and no, stupid "Sci-Fi" like Stargate or Enterprise is not good science fiction) isn't that common nowadays, if you buy the DVD you will support further development of science fiction.
Seriously, it's not that expensive, if a poor bum like me can afford it then so can you

You can buy the DVD is Australia only, but most of these sites ship worldwide and accept credit cards and/or paypal.

I didn't buy the DVD but maybe someone did.

[GreenMonkey]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

I've been downloading films and TV shows for years and I never had problems with viruses. I suppose that it would depend on the website, but if the comments are positive and you don't do something stupid like downloading a zip file, you should be safe. You can see the names of the files in the torrent and you can select which to download.

Yes, talk of torrents having viruses is over-inflated. The risk is no worse than anything else on the internet, really.

This was a great article. Pretty much sums up my frustration with DRM.

This "you're buying a license to use it only in these highly restricted ways" stuff is B.S. I purchase DRM'd content a the price of a rental only, because that's what it is.

I'm even more cranky about books than games and movies, because off all formats, I'm most likely to re-visit a book over and over again over the years.

At the heart of it, in the case of Amazon or Apple, it's also anti-capitalism at its worst - the whole concept of basically locking you into only their store for purchases. Ick.

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by GreenMonkey

At the heart of it, in the case of Amazon or Apple, it's also anti-capitalism at its worst - the whole concept of basically locking you into only their store for purchases. Ick.

I've always wondered if they would be vulnerable to a class action suit - format discrimination?

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by GreenMonkey

At the heart of it, in the case of Amazon or Apple, it's also anti-capitalism at its worst - the whole concept of basically locking you into only their store for purchases. Ick.

It is anti-capitalist to buy out or otherwise shut down all other stores, so consumers have no choice but to buy from one store. But since consumers are, in fact, free to buy from any other stores, there's no lock, and no anti-capitalism at work here.

It is purely and acceptably capitalist to want customers to buy only from your store. It's only bad when consumers are forced into it, and vendors take unfair advantage of the situation.

[Format C:]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

...
However, we all know that the torrents are being created with stolen works (including mine) and downloaded by others, which means works of mine are being downloaded within those torrents. As I am not being paid for those works, that constitutes stealing my work. Q.E.D.
....

Steve, I think you're missing an aspect of the situation...

The fact is, until the ebook is actually read by someone, it's not a book. After being downloaded, it's just a file occupying space on an HD.
If you, hypothetically, illicitly download an mp3 file, you're not downloading music unless you actually play it. You're dowloading bytes. The act of playing the file transubstantiate it in music (or, generically, content). And that's the moment where the "stealing" takes place. If you get the file, and you don't play it, you're not getting music at all, so you're not stealing anything from anybody....

OTOH, if you steal a paper book, you're actually stealing it. You're stealing the paper and the ink it's made of. And it has a material value on its own. And you've stolen it even if you don't read it....
In this case, btw, it's the reseller or the publisher who's generically considered to be stolen from, not the author.



Another thing, just out of curiosity:

When you found copies of files containing the text of your works, did you open the them? It could be just some files named after your novels...

[Format C:]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

...the point is that it's wrong to sneak into a movie theatre.
....

Yes, and there's a huge difference betwenn sneaking into the theatre when a movie is played and when it's empty, silent and dark...

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by Format C:

Steve, I think you're missing an aspect of the situation...

The fact is, until the ebook is actually read by someone, it's not a book. After being downloaded, it's just a file occupying space on an HD.
If you, hypothetically, illicitly download an mp3 file, you're not downloading music unless you actually play it. You're dowloading bytes. The act of playing the file transubstantiate it in music (or, generically, content). And that's the moment where the "stealing" takes place. If you get the file, and you don't play it, you're not getting music at all, so you're not stealing anything from anybody....

This is an interesting theory. But completely wrong as a matter of law.

OTOH, if you steal a paper book, you're actually stealing it. You're stealing the paper and the ink it's made of. And it has a material value on its own. And you've stolen it even if you don't read it....
In this case, btw, it's the reseller or the publisher who's generically considered to be stolen from, not the author.

It's stealing from the author because he's been deprived of his royalties.

Another thing, just out of curiosity:

When you found copies of files containing the text of your works, did you open the them? It could be just some files named after your novels...

This would not be stealing...

[Format C:]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

Are you saying it's acceptable to steal, then? I, as a member of the society at large, would disagree.

I'm with you, here.

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

I also take umbrage to the implication that I, and all content producers, treat my customers as thieves. The act of applying security to one's goods to prevent theft is NOT treating all customers as thieves. Security is designed to deter actual thieves. Non-thieves should not be inconvenienced by the existence of security, any more than is necessary to deter actual thieves.

However, I also made clear in my comment that a balance should be struck between applying security and inconveniencing customers (by which, I mean honest customers... not the thieves).

Here it is!
I think a new model has to be thought where security is not an issue at all.
No need for "security", no annoyed customers.

We need to accept that we can't do nothing against smart "thieves", though...
For how smart the business model is, there will always be a smarter pirate who gets the content for free. That's to be accepted, rather than dealt with.

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

Presently, digital security systems do not strike a good balance, and that needs to be fixed. However, "a good balance" doesn't mean "swing the doors open, turn your back and let the consumers do what they will." That particular sales method hasn't been successful for too many content producers, and it isn't going to get any better.

The only acceptable balance is: make your customers happy, and ignore the irriducible pirates. If you try to act on the latter, you won't stop them, and you'll just annoy some of the former...

It will work well only if we abandon that obsolete "per copy" model, ad switch to a more efficient lifetime licensing model....

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

....
THIS is the issue: A need to redesign our commercial and ownership traditions to accommodate the new technology, and to provide some product security to producers while allowing consumers to use the products appropriately.



Those 20-somethings won't "wonder" anything, as long as they can enjoy their digital media, and share it with their friends... something very little of the digital media make hard to do.

"Ownership" in a mass-production and/or digital world is largely an abstraction, and we shouldn't get hung up on definitions; what matters is finding the balance between a producer's right to protect and control their production, and the consumer's right to enjoy the production in a satisfying way.

Right now, that balance is tipped in the consumer's favor, and it needs to be brought to a more even level (for the producer's benefit) without ticking off the consumers and causing them to not buy (or to steal). It can be done, but the longer we wait and do nothing, the harder the transition will be.

Here we are.
It's time to decouple the pricing of the content from the pricing of the medium.

I'd like to buy a lifetime unlimited access to "Verdant Skies", no matter the medium i read it on.
Having paid you for it, I will pay just the material value of the medium, without repaying the content every time.

For example: I pay you 10$ for the content. I don't have the book still, just a right to access it.
With this right in my hand, I can buy a special handcrafted print for 50$, an audio cd for 15$ or an epub file for 3$. Or all of them.
Whatever I choose, you don't get other money from every other "copy" I buy.
But everybody who works to produce those "hard" copies is paid.
And I know exactly what I'm buying.

Easy to implement with present time technology?
Yes. A smart card and a good database will do it.

Easy to enforce?
No.
But, like I said, you can't do nothing against smart pirates. They'll always get it for free.

Happy customers?
As long as you write good, well edited stories, yes. The better your books, the more likely they'll buy more.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

It's stealing from the author because he's been deprived of his royalties.

Since you referenced the law, it is not stealing according to the law.

Also I do not understand how you deprive an author of something if you just download a collection av 10000 books most of which you will never read and would not have bought in any case.