A Fairer Fair Use?

[wizwor]

Borland used to license software to be used as a pbook -- multiple users could use the software on multiple systems so long as only one user was using the software on one system at a time. A lot of software companies now use a call home feature to ensure that software is not installed on multiple computers.

How would you feel about a license server infrastructure for ebooks? Download an ebook to any device in any format as long as it is only on one device at a time. In the spirit of Fair Use and to accomodate remote reading, one device could read the ebook based on the existence of a local token (which could be removed from one device and installed on another).

You could loan your books to friends, sell them, or even donate them to libraries (formal or informal).

What do you think?

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by wizwor

What do you think?

I think you've doomed your books to uselessness as soon as the company decides to stop hosting the licence server.
The local tokens would have to be regularly verified online with a server, otherwise the whole scheme would be pointless, you could just back up the token, transfer the licence somewhere else, then copy the token back.
And once the server goes, so do your books.

[QuantumIguana]

I am not going to be dependent on anyone else be able to read the books that I have purchased. I paid for it, I will read it where and when I like.

[wizwor]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

I think you've doomed your books to uselessness as soon as the company decides to stop hosting the licence server.
The local tokens would have to be regularly verified online with a server, otherwise the whole scheme would be pointless, you could just back up the token, transfer the licence somewhere else, then copy the token back.
And once the server goes, so do your books.

Details! I would expect a third party to manage the servers (a la pki) and there is no need to revisit a token generated based on unique characteristics of a device. Again, using something similar to the PKI certificate to associate the reader with owned content.

[taustin]

Originally Posted by wizwor

Borland used to license software to be used as a pbook -- multiple users could use the software on multiple systems so long as only one user was using the software on one system at a time. A lot of software companies now use a call home feature to ensure that software is not installed on multiple computers.

How would you feel about a license server infrastructure for ebooks? Download an ebook to any device in any format as long as it is only on one device at a time. In the spirit of Fair Use and to accomodate remote reading, one device could read the ebook based on the existence of a local token (which could be removed from one device and installed on another).

You could loan your books to friends, sell them, or even donate them to libraries (formal or informal).

What do you think?

Yeah, that system worked out so well on the several digital music systems that have gone out of business. People don't seem to be too enthusiastic about renting books, especially for the same price as buying them. I doubt you'd be able to get 99 cents on a system like that.

[taustin]

Originally Posted by wizwor

Details! I would expect a third party to manage the servers (a la pki) and there is no need to revisit a token generated based on unique characteristics of a device. Again, using something similar to the PKI certificate to associate the reader with owned content.

If the token doesn't get verified basically every time the book is opened, it's not limited to one device at a time. If it does, it's a rental, not a purchase, and use depends on whoever runs the server still doing so. And no third party will keep running a server for a company that's gone out of business (and stopped paying them).

[Phogg]

I have zero use for any software other than a browser that does not work without an internet connection.

We have seen this idea before.

How did divx ultimately work out for Circuit City?

[Belfaborac]

I want my ebooks to work exactly the way paper books do: pay for it, receive it, do whatever I want with it. End of story.

[RainingLemur]

Originally Posted by Belfaborac

I want my ebooks to work exactly the way paper books do: pay for it, receive it, do whatever I want with it. End of story.

Exactly.

[plib]

Originally Posted by Belfaborac

I want my ebooks to work exactly the way paper books do: pay for it, receive it, do whatever I want with it. End of story.

Moi aussi.

[fjtorres]

It's been tried in gaming.
It is generally despised:
http://techland.time.com/2012/05/17/...me-in-reviews/

[susan_cassidy]

Then you couldn't sync between the copy on your Kindle, and on your smartphone. No, thanks.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by wizwor

How would you feel about a license server infrastructure for ebooks? Download an ebook to any device in any format as long as it is only on one device at a time. In the spirit of Fair Use and to accomodate remote reading, one device could read the ebook based on the existence of a local token (which could be removed from one device and installed on another).

You could loan your books to friends, sell them, or even donate them to libraries (formal or informal).

What do you think?

I think it'd have a few logistics issues which could be smoothed over (there'd be the occasional glitch, and of course the worry about how stable the token-maintaining company is), but mostly, that'd be fine.

However, the big publishers will never go for it.They often don't allow books to be loaned through Kindle's one-time, two-weeks loaning process; they certainly won't agree to allow ownership of an ebook to be transferred. They insist that ebooks can't be donated, loaned or resold.

It's a terrific idea, and it's what DRM *should* be doing. People should be able to transfer ownership of their purchased ebooks to someone else, just like they can with pbooks. Instead, publishers are using DRM to promote a "one buyer = one reader" approach to books.

[Giggleton]

Originally Posted by Belfaborac

I want my ebooks to work exactly the way paper books do: pay for it, receive it, do whatever I want with it. End of story.

Share ebooks with 7 billion people at once? Sounds good to me.

[Kumabjorn]

If it requires me to be online every time I want to read, then no thanks. I walk out into the woods with my Kindle, sit next to a stream and enjoy a good text. No internet, no stress.