Harry Potter ebooks! Really!

[pdurrant]

Moderator Notice

While general discussion of the fact that complex watermarking has been applied to the Harry Potter books is fine, please do not discuss the details of how it has been applied or how to remove it.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by JoeD

Putting everything through the pottermore site will not make a single bit of difference about whether it's pirated or not, neither will the use of watermarks. It could be totally DRM free, watermarked or adobe/amazon infested, it would be pirated all the same.

Correct.
What Pottermore *does* achieve is that it keeps Rowling & co in control of the customer account and most of the customer relations.

Just as with the movies and merchandizing, she didn't just sign the contract and go home to count the money but instead stayed engaged. (As everybody points out; she could have just auctioned up the ebook rights and let others worry about getting the books out.)

All else considered, Rowling does care for how the brand is managed and exploited as a *long term* resource. It is all part and parcel of maintaining the brand's integrity. Even if it costs her money in the short term, as it did.

Good business practices at work.

[ApK]

Hmm. I guess it's weird but true that a discussion of how watermarking is done is tantamount to instructions on how to remove it, because of it's nature.
I find that disturbing for two reasons.
1. I means it depends entirely on security by obscurity, which the IT consultant in me shudders over.
2. It means that some hobbyist innocently asking a question about something they see in their book file might be guilty of violating some DMCA-like law just for having asked the question.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by ApK

Hmm. I guess it's weird but true that a discussion of how watermarking is done is tantamount to instructions on how to remove it, because of it's nature.
I find that disturbing for two reasons.
1. I means it depends entirely on security by obscurity, which the IT consultant in me shudders over.
2. It means that some hobbyist innocently asking a question about something they see in their book file might be guilty of violating some DMCA-like law just for having asked the question.

1. Any DRM system depends entirely on security by obscurity.
2. Just asking the question doesn't violate any laws that I know about.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

1. Any DRM system depends entirely on security by obscurity.
2. Just asking the question doesn't violate any laws that I know about.

1. OK, but if you point out that some drm system stores its key in a certain file, it still requires some significant effort to make use of that knowledge.
If you tell someone that the watermark is HERE and HERE then one need only cut those things out to 'circumvent.'
2 That leads to my concern that even mentioning the discovery might be seen as a circumvention violation (where applicable).

[markpearl]

Originally Posted by ApK

1. OK, but if you point out that some drm system stores its key in a certain file, it still requires some significant effort to make use of that knowledge.
If you tell someone that the watermark is HERE and HERE then one need only cut those things out to 'circumvent.'
2 That leads to my concern that even mentioning the discovery might be seen as a circumvention violation (where applicable).

The mention of your discovery has/had no effect whatsoever on the circumvention of protection systems contained in HP because, I am told by those who know and indulge in the scurrilous practice, that the system's already been thwarted, hence the quick and anonymous proliferation of both the UK and US versions.

People who look for dishonest means to obtain digital material...be it e-books, music or software...always find means to do so. Those of us who want the authors and artists to receive remuneration for their efforts will continue to pay. That's the way it's always been...and always will be, despite efforts and rhetoric to the contrary.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by markpearl

The mention of your discovery has/had no effect whatsoever on the circumvention of protection systems contained in HP because, I am told by those who know and indulge in the scurrilous practice, that the system's already been thwarted, hence the quick and anonymous proliferation of both the UK and US versions.

That wasn't the point (the HP ebooks have been widely available for YEARS), the point was unintentional (one would hope, or at least, wildly unfair) implications of the anti-circumvention laws.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by ApK

the point was unintentional (one would hope, or at least, wildly unfair) implications of the anti-circumvention laws.

Those implications have been known for years.

For example, there's a couple of large prime numbers that might be illegal to distribute in the US, as they represent versions of the DeCSS code. See the Wikipedia article on Illegal Prime.

Why no link to the article? Because MobileRead rules on linking to DRM removal software means that I may not link to that article from MobileRead!

[ApK]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Those implications have been known for years.

Yes, and this would expand the implications to a much larger group than those who might calculate and distribute large primes, so maybe it will aid in bringing corrective attention. You're welcome.

See the Wikipedia article on Illegal Prime.

OK, but then I'm off to write a brilliant parody song called "Illegal Prime" based on John Prine's "Illegal Smile."

(idea copyright apk, all rights mine. it's going to be great.)

[JoeD]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Correct.
What Pottermore *does* achieve is that it keeps Rowling & co in control of the customer account and most of the customer relations.

No arguments from me on that one I'd rather those who created the content in the first place retain as much control over the distribution as they can rather than just selling out to the highest bidder.

[JSWolf]

Here are screen shots from the iPad of Harry Potter #1 with some of the changes I've made to make it look more like the print edition.

I've changed the coloring in the cover because some of the text was just washed out. Also, I've embedded the fonts used in the print version. I think it looks very nice.

[trevgriff]

Very cool, did you do this in Calibre?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by trevgriff

Very cool, did you do this in Calibre?

It's not possible to do this in Calibre.

It was done by hand using Notepad++ & Firefox. I added in the fonts into the fonts directory I created. I then edited the XML/OPF/CSS/ncx all by hand. I did remove the internal ToC as I don't need/want it and I removed the preview of the next book as I don't ever plan on reading it. Also, I cleaned up the pseudo blockquotes that they put in and put in real ones where needed. For the smallcaps, I had to convert the uppercase to lowercase. I did have to remove some of the bold and italics where the fonts were to go.

[Victoria]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It's not possible to do this in Calibre.

It was done by hand using Notepad++ & Firefox. I added in the fonts into the fonts directory I created. I then edited the XML/OPF/CSS/ncx all by hand. I did remove the internal ToC as I don't need/want it and I removed the preview of the next book as I don't ever plan on reading it. Also, I cleaned up the pseudo blockquotes that they put in and put in real ones where needed. For the smallcaps, I had to convert the uppercase to lowercase. I did have to remove some of the bold and italics where the fonts were to go.

Thanks for posting- I got the UK versions, was curious what the American version looked like as well

[BeccaPrice]

wow, JSWolf, sounds like an awful lot of work to go through for an ebook.