DRM, Rentals, DRM-stripping and Morality

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by RainingLemur

I only approve of stripping of DRM from books I actually own.

What do the publishers think about this "own" business you bring up? Are you sure you haven't legally been paying for rentals with vaguer time limits than the students get?

To paraphrase DiapDealer's excellent sig, I think that "DRM-stripping correctness" is like trying to pick up a turd by the clean end. Using those same fingers to point at others seems... I'm not sure how to say it tactfully. (I'm not aiming these remarks at RainingLemur personally (even with that avatar ), but rather at the majority of MR members who seem to be okay with DRM as long as they can strip it themselves. I honestly don't understand this position.)

[Giggleton]

Why would you even consider limiting your own access to knowledge in such a manner?

[pietvo]

I mainly agree with the OP. Stripping DRM from a library ebook is sometimes necessary. I am reading a book now which was in PDF format. I need a bigger font, however, than the PDF offers, and zooming doesn't solve it. So I need the reflow option. For this particular book it gives horrible results, however, and I had previous books which were similar. So I removed the DRM, converted it to epub with Calibre and cleaned it up with Sigil. I will delete the book when I finish it, or at least when it expires. Although it would probably not make much difference if I would keep it because I usually don't read library books twice. But then, why waste the disk space?

Once I was reading a library book and it expired when I was almost finished. I would need only one hour more. So in that case I decided to remove the DRM so I could finish it without the hassle of borrowing it again and probably having to wait for someone who had reserved it. The probability of someone actually borrowing it during the hour I deemed extremely small (it was around midnight), and as the OP says, it would not hurt anyone. Of course I deleted the book after finishing it.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Giggleton

Why would you even consider limiting your own access to knowledge in such a manner?

I rather expected your comment to be along these lines!

Thank you also to the others who've posted. I was particularly taken with crich70's point about library books: they have already been paid for in full. Rented books have not.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by JeremyR

Then again, I also happen to consider libraries more or less crooked. They're like a double robbery (first, taxes, secondly, authors are having their books read by 1000s without any sort of compensation, beyond selling one book).

In many countries, there's a concept called the "Public Lending Right", which does pay authors directly according to how many times their books are borrowing from the library. In the UK, for example, an author gets paid about 6p (US 10c) for each loan. However, only EU authors get paid by this programme.

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by HarryT

In many countries, there's a concept called the "Public Lending Right", which does pay authors directly according to how many times their books are borrowing from the library. In the UK, for example, an author gets paid about 6p (US 10c) for each loan. However, only EU authors get paid by this programme.

I think Australia must have something similar. My sister mentioned something recently about getting revenue from libraries for her book.

[HarryT]

Yes, both Australia and New Zealand have a PLR programme. There's more information available at Wiki.

[carpetmojo]

Yup, I agree with doing - and being able - to do what you wish with your own property.

I do not believe it right to do it with rented/library books, they aren't your property, and have been paid for by a third party.

[Caltsar]

I strip the DRM of every book I buy. When I used the Sony reader and my Mac was my only computer, I also stripped DRM from library books since ADE didn't play nice, but they were always deleted at the end of the loan period. I don't strip DRM from library books anymore because my nook *does* play nice.

I much prefer to keep all my books from all my sources in one place so I can use Stanza to access my Calibre library and sideload my books onto my nook. It's just so much easier to keep track of, and I don't have to worry about what programs and devices I have to use to load or read my books.

[mldavis2]

... and those of us who are Kindle users are still waiting for Overdrive and the library system to recognize that we exist. In the meantime ...

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by mldavis2

... and those of us who are Kindle users are still waiting for Overdrive and the library system to recognize that we exist. In the meantime ...

Well, on that it isn't entirely up to Overdrive, but they've been working with Kindle, and if you believe the rumors, you won't have to wait much longer (read, weeks)

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by mldavis2

... and those of us who are Kindle users are still waiting for Overdrive and the library system to recognize that we exist. In the meantime ...

There is zero problem with the library system or overdrive recognizing that you exist.
The libraries world wide went with epub as a universal standard before the first Kindle was ever sold.

All limitations you have are from a private company that does not want its customers to have access to the universal format used by libraries. It is not the place of private corporations to try to make dictates to libraries.

I am fairly involved with our local library, and we have zero plans to ever shell out for some egotistical corperations private standard.

Some bigger libraries in some places might buy for Kindles, but not smaller libraries.

[HarryT]

I really don't know what you're talking about, Phogg. If you'd read the announcements about the Kindle's library lending you'd know that libraries aren't going to have to "shell out" for anything. Kindle versions of library books will automatically be made available to customers at no additional expense to the library.

[GraceKrispy]

Originally Posted by Ron.

I think DRM removal of a book you own is ok, DRM removal of a rented or borrowed book not ok...

What he said.

[aceflor]

I automatically remove the DRM on every book that I buy, I never do it on a library book. If I really liked the book, I buy it afterwards (and then remove the DRM ). I am a fast reader, so I always finish the books on time.