Getting Started with Calibre

[kovidgoyal]

1. is fairly trivially obvious

2. Depends on whether DRMed embedding is still considered embedding. I'm pretty sure the lawyers for font foundries would like the answer to be yes, whether a judge agrees with them, no one can say.

[DLSieving]

Ok thanks.

Again it's a legal question but my understanding in summary is that:

1. The use of a font in a published work is not governed by the font license as long as the font definition is not exposed.
2. The distribution of a font definition enabling others to copy and reuse it freely is governed by the font license.

I know that individual legal opinions may vary but I just want to know the common understanding on this subject within the eBook publishing community.

again!

Dave

[eschwartz]

I am pretty sure yes you will have to research every font. Some fonts are licensed only for personal use when bundled with e.g. MS word.

Even if you are licensed to benefit from commercial use of the font, your non-automatic right to do so may additionally be restricted due to the requirement to obfuscate it.

I think Kovid is right in claiming font obfuscation is mere security theater.
But so is DRM and that never stopped the screaming lawyer-encouraged hordes...

[DLSieving]

Thank you, eschwartz!

I'll do just that - research every font and pay as I go if needed. Hopefully I'll get license certificates whose numbers I can publish on my Copyright page to appease the suspicious.

As long as I publish with DRM, it seems to me there would be no way for anyone but Amazon to prove or disprove that my embedded fonts are obfuscated, since DRM is obfuscation on steroids. This is what makes obfuscation theatre as Kovid put it. But if the font owner requires it then I'll obfuscate anyway, so that if my book gets DRM hacked at least it will be revealed that the required obfuscation theatrics are in place.

Are you saying that DRM is also theatre? Is it that breakable? Will my book be a revenue-free sensation all over China the day after I publish it on KDP?

Weak DRM would be very costly to Amazon and so I would think it should be a very high priority for them to fix.

Dave

[dickloraine]

I don't know what kind of book you make, but do you need to embed fonts? If it is fiction you shouldn't need to embed a font unless you have very good reasons to do so (non standard glyphs etc.)

Amazons drm is very easily removed. If that is costly to amazon is a highly debatable question. Some buy there because it is easy removable, most people don't know/care. I would say, it costs them nothing compared to the cost of more sophisticated drm systems (that would be broken too) and they only have it, because publishers want it. Maybe it helps against casual misuse.

[DLSieving]

dickloraine:

It is my considered opinion that the decision to embed fonts belongs to the author and to the author alone. The author's reasons for doing so are also their own. As long as they have the legal right to do so, the 1st Amendment guarantees this. Discouragement of font embedding has been circulating on the eBook forums for some time now and is a complete waste of time.

If you could provide a link or two to news articles about breaches of Amazon's DRM or its vulnerability to breaches I would appreciate it. This is obviously a subject of concern to any serious eBook author.

[PeterT]

Most readers enjoy the ability to use whatever font THEY want.

As for DRM just search for Apprentice \Alf.

[DLSieving]

PeterT:

Readers who change the fonts in my books in spite of my efforts to the contrary will only ruin their ability to understand them. Fonts can be part of the author's communication to the reader. If the reader changes them in such cases then there will be a failure to communicate. Everyone loses. Just because you suddenly can do something (such as launch nuclear weapons or allow users to change an author's fonts) doesn't automatically mean that you should.

Thanks for the tip about Apprentice\Alf!

[PeterT]

Best of luck. I'm out

[dickloraine]

I didn't say you are not allowed to embed fonts, I said it may not be a good idea. As I said, if you write non-fiction, you maybe need some fonts embeded. For fiction I would really think twice for each font. Just look into published print books. They normally use only two fonts for the main body: One for the text and one for headers. Things like letters etc. are done with font types (mostly italic) and margins. NOT some handwriting font etc. If you have different fonts all over, it just looks unprofessional. Finaly: No, just because you like Times New Roman, I don't. If you absolutly need a font to transport meaning, use it. That is okay. But why would you force your liking for a body font on me? I don't know what to say about your analogy, it is just so out of scope (can the saying about hitler on the internet get expanded with nuclear weapon analogies?).

I wouldn't worry about drm and pirates. Getting people to read your book is what you should think about

[theducks]

Hope you have a pile of money.
The price for fonts is high, and that was for single use (eg Word processing)
An embedded font license

BTW depending on usage you man need up to 4 faces in the Family

[dickloraine]

There are some open source fonts. All the google ones for example. Charis Sil too (which is used very often in ebooks), eb garamond etc.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by dickloraine

There are some open source fonts. All the google ones for example. Charis Sil too (which is used very often in ebooks), eb garamond etc.

But there is no need to obscure those.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by DLSieving

Thank you, eschwartz!

I'll do just that - research every font and pay as I go if needed. Hopefully I'll get license certificates whose numbers I can publish on my Copyright page to appease the suspicious.

Why are you being melodramatic about it?

As long as I publish with DRM, it seems to me there would be no way for anyone but Amazon to prove or disprove that my embedded fonts are obfuscated, since DRM is obfuscation on steroids. This is what makes obfuscation theatre as Kovid put it. But if the font owner requires it then I'll obfuscate anyway, so that if my book gets DRM hacked at least it will be revealed that the required obfuscation theatrics are in place.

Are you saying that DRM is also theatre? Is it that breakable? Will my book be a revenue-free sensation all over China the day after I publish it on KDP?

Weak DRM would be very costly to Amazon and so I would think it should be a very high priority for them to fix.

Dave

Actually, ebook DRM is applied per file in an unpacked EPUB (this is why the metadata is not encrypted) and I am not at all sure the DRM is applied to fonts as well.

The internals of the mobipocket format are slightly more complicated...



But no. The reason why it is security theater is because DRM and obfuscation are essentially two implementations of a really stupid concept.
You cannot simultaneously allow someone to use something AND stop them from using it, it is a rather basic logical flaw.

Read up on the analog loophole.

...

In order for someone to be able to read their purchased ebook, the decryption keys must reside on their own computer or ereader.
In order to stop a person from trivially using those keys to permanently decrypt their purchased ebook, the ebook DRM must therefore also steal control of the person's computer.
Like the Sony rootkit fiasco.

Ever heard of DeCSS (for video)? What about the above-mentioned tools by Apprentice Alf (for ebooks)?

Originally Posted by DLSieving

PeterT:

Readers who change the fonts in my books in spite of my efforts to the contrary will only ruin their ability to understand them. Fonts can be part of the author's communication to the reader. If the reader changes them in such cases then there will be a failure to communicate. Everyone loses. Just because you suddenly can do something (such as launch nuclear weapons or allow users to change an author's fonts) doesn't automatically mean that you should.

As an author, you certainly have the right to decide if you believe a specific font is necessary for your Art.
But I do agree with dickloraine and PeterT, in that many (stupid) authors embed pointless off-the-rack default fonts like TNR, Garamond, Charis...

Embedded fonts bloat your ebook, which means Amazon charges a higher delivery cost.
They are often redundant, since ereaders and reader apps have their own system fonts.
Some buyers don't care about or notice fonts (me), and some others are mortally offended about someone else's authorial taste in fonts.

The agnostic in me questions what impact your fonts will actually have.


I will leave it at this: as you yourself said, just because you can do something, doesn't necessarily mean you should.

That goes for the author as well as the reader. Please don't embed fonts instinctively, only do so for very specific reasons.
(The #1 reason for embedded fonts in commercial ebooks is actually because the author was afraid you need to embed a font in order to ensure the book can be read. )

Offered solely FWIW, because someone else mentioned the "necessity" of doing so.


P.S. Again, please cut out the melodrama. I almost left this thread without replying because I was rolling my eyes so hard.