Help with ebook protection, thanks

[jmacie]

My mom is writing an ebook. It's an instructional ebook with original images. I'm trying to help her get information about copy protection. It seems there is really nothing to ultimately help her. This is a small project, and there is no budget. I've searched, with few results. If anyone here has any ideas, my mom and me would appreciate any and all info. So thank you, jmacie

[cromag]

Will your mom be publishing through Amazon or some other publisher?

(BTW, while I'm not an expert, I prefer not to have copy protection -- also known as Digital Rights Management, or DRM -- on my work.)

[jmacie]

Thank you, I think she's considering Amazon. My mom is only expecting a very small quantity of sales, very small, so she's trying to protect herself, and I'm trying to help. She's had some bad experiences with image copying from online. I explained that I thought that there was not any way to truly protect herself. But I'm trying to get any info for her, thanks

[cromag]

Unless I'm mistaken, Amazon automatically applies DRM unless the author/publisher specifically requests them not to. So, she should be covered.

DRM will prevent casual copying, but nearly all forms of DRM can be defeated easily.

[eschwartz]

If you sell through a publisher or indie publish via an ebookstore, you can usually choose to apply DRM to encrypt it.

Speaking purely as a reader, however, I strongly disapprove of DRM, and would like to point out it is very easy to break any DRM no matter what; see here: Copy Protection >> Technical Challenges, here: Digital Rights Management >> Shortcomings, and here: Analog Hole. If you have sold the book to someone, you cannot truly stop them from doing whatever they want with it unless you stop them from reading it.

DRM is a severe nuisance to the reader who bought the book honestly, preventing him/her from reading it across multiple devices for example; meanwhile, anyone who truly wished to distribute the book to all and sundry will not even be slowed down (assuming they get their hands on the book in the first place, which requires them to buy a copy first ).

On a more optimistic note, Baen Books has never used DRM, and Tor Books went DRM-Free 2 years ago. Both maintain that there is no discernible increase in piracy as a result, and sales have not been affected.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by cromag

Unless I'm mistaken, Amazon automatically applies DRM unless the author/publisher specifically requests them not to.

No, there is no "default". The uploader has to specifically choose whether or not the book has DRM.

[jmacie]

I appreciate this info, I can relate to my mom. She will be able to make a more informed decision after reading all your posts. It's hard to explain to my mom all protections are defeat-able. I figure she needs someone besides me tell her that there are limited choices. Thank you all again, jmacie

[saoir]

She needs to invest more emotional time in the project and less in worrying about what might happen. The possibility of piracy and the 'possible' effect is grossly exaggerated.

[DarkScribe]

Originally Posted by jmacie

My mom is writing an ebook. It's an instructional ebook with original images. I'm trying to help her get information about copy protection. It seems there is really nothing to ultimately help her. This is a small project, and there is no budget. I've searched, with few results. If anyone here has any ideas, my mom and me would appreciate any and all info. So thank you, jmacie

There is no possible "technical" way of protecting anything - never will be. There's always someone who will delight in bypassing any protection.

I have heard that putting a curse on those who steal from her can be effective. It involves waiting until midnight on a moonless night, then running in circles around your backyard, tossing cornflakes into the air and screaming like a chicken. It does sometime cause your neighbours to call the Police. Is your Mom ok with Tasers?

[ApK]

I'll also note that "expecting very low sales" and "worrying about copy protection" are mutually exclusive. If no one is interested in buying, then no one is interested in stealing, either.

For her piece of mind, she might want to consider some form of watermarking. That will not inconvenience legitimate users, and will allow her to spot illegal copies if she ever comes across one. Which, if her prediction of low interest proves true, is highly unlikely.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by ApK

I'll also note that "expecting very low sales" and "worrying about copy protection" are mutually exclusive. If no one is interested in buying, then no one is interested in stealing, either.

For her piece of mind, she might want to consider some form of watermarking. That will not inconvenience legitimate users, and will allow her to spot illegal copies if she ever comes across one. Which, if her prediction of low interest proves true, is highly unlikely.

+1 this^

Just reassure her this way (all true): the most-highly pirated "books" are, in order: 1) copies of Game-cheat books (various); 2) copies of Playboy; 3) copies of Excel Macro books.

If her book doesn't really fall into the "teenage-boy-wants-it-but-doesn't-want-to-pay-for-it" category, she's reasonably, although not perfectly, safe.

Hope that helps.

Hitch

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by jmacie

My mom is writing an ebook. It's an instructional ebook with original images. I'm trying to help her get information about copy protection. It seems there is really nothing to ultimately help her. This is a small project, and there is no budget. I've searched, with few results. If anyone here has any ideas, my mom and me would appreciate any and all info. So thank you, jmacie

Any copy protection would be applied by the retailer, and not cost you anything.

But in my experience, copy protection does nothing to stop piracy, it just inconveniences your actual paying customers. I would recommend against using DRM on her ebook.

[Matth79]

https://defectivebydesign.org/

DRM is evil and inconveniences legitimate users far more than it does the pirates who can usually break or bypass it.

Digital Rights Management denies the user the right to consume content as they wish - would you buy a paperback with a padlock?

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Matth79

https://defectivebydesign.org/

DRM is evil and inconveniences legitimate users far more than it does the pirates who can usually break or bypass it.

Digital Rights Management denies the user the right to consume content as they wish - would you buy a paperback with a padlock?

{sigh}.

Unless you're really seriously dedicated, you're not going to stand at a copier and make 50,000 copies of your paperback. You can lend it out, during which you can't read it, or not. It's a single-user item. The same isn't true for ebooks.

While, 1) yes, there are probably perfectly legitimate users of books who are inconvenienced, because they use multiple reading devices (for a single book) that use multiple formats, and can't stand the thought of having to install "Kindle For..." or whatever, on a given device, and, 2) yes, DRM won't stop any real pirate, the bigger issue, by far, for most ebooks today is "casual theft."

The very same thing that caused software to develop "licenses" back in the day, in the 80's. People don't give two seconds' thought to "casual theft," e.g., making a copy of a book they like for Susie, who likes it and makes a copy for Janie, and so on and so forth. (The "Lotus 1-2-3" saga). This type of theft, by people who don't think of what they are doing as theft, is put off by DRM. Not the "pirate" who puts a book up on PirateBay, one of Dotcomm's sites, etc.--the casual thief who doesn't give two thoughts to the author who wrote it or the publisher who published it.

Whitepaper statistics show us that 3 out of 5 people will download something for free, if it's available, even if they know it's a pay-for-use item. That's not a boatload of honest people. However, most of those people THINK of themselves as "honest," and won't actively go around DRM. We're talking about the millions of Amazon buyers, Nook buyers, etc., here, not MobileRead members. That's the type of thieving (yes, yes, I know, it's "copyright infringment") that DRM prevents, and frankly, given how few honest people there are in the world today, I'm all for it. If it means that an MR'er has to spend 30 seconds so s/he can read their book on their Nook AND their Kindle AND their Droid tablet, so what? I'll never understand this whole "DRM is evil" thing. You don't like it, fine, go around it. But stop begrudging the people who want to use it the right to use it. It's THEIR product, not yours. It's THEIR money, not yours, that's being taken if the copyright is violated. And as casual theft is so rampant, I don't see why they shouldn't use DRM to at least stop the hemorrhage.

And, sorry, but no amount of argument is going to change my mind. I ran my business as "pay upon completion" for the first two years, until THEFT nearly ran me into the ground, with people just taking their completed ebooks and never--never--paying. (For some, I actually ran around to their Facebook pages and publicly posted that they were deadbeats. Amazing how money shows up if you do that.) THOUSANDS of dollars' worth, (5 digits, not 4) not just a few hundred here and there. So we had to go to pay upfront, no exceptions. I have a far dimmer view of human honesty since those early years. (n.b.: then I went to pay upfront, but pay for revision cycles after they are done. Got ripped off thousands of dollars, in a single quarter, that way, too. Now, it's all upfront. Period.)

People attribute NO value to digital products. They think it's okay to just take it and go. I would have been one of those arguing, before I started this business, that DRM was just SILLY. Now, I know better. The whole "oh, I want to read my books on my ninety-bajillion devices, and this inconveniences me" is just complaining; real geeky e-readers with multiple devices just get rid of DRM when they want. It's the other 99.99% of ebook readers that need DRM as a deterrent. Sadly, the public just isn't that honest. It's been a shocking revelation to me, and I'm sorry I know it. I wish I could have continued to happily trip through life thinking that the average person is honest. In a horrifyingly large percentage, they're not.

</rant>

Hitch

[HarryT]

Well said, Hitch. I completely agree with you.