Arguments For And Against DRM

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by taustin

Because if you do, by your logic, you are accusing all your neighbors of being thieves, aren't you?

Same when the bookstore locks its doors, and I have to wait until the place opens to get in.

Originally Posted by taustin

That reducing piracy isn't the same thing as increasing sales is a point missed by a lot of publishers, but their logic is internally consistent, even if it is beside the point.

Whether it is beside the point must turn on data.

This next link gives some data for takedown notices. That's not the same as DRM, but it is another method to slow down piracy a bit, and so may be relevant:

The Effect of Piracy Protection in Book Publishing

I compare sales of similar book titles with and without piracy protection, before and after titles have been added by the piracy protection company, in a difference-in-differences setting. I find that the effect of piracy protection varies across formats and titles. E-books, the closest substitute for online piracy, benefit from piracy protection by selling 15.4% more units, while there is no significant effect on other formats. The effect is more pronounced for titles that have been successful prior to piracy protection, indicating that book piracy has a promotional effect for lesser known works.

Lack of copy protection was arguably essential to Microsoft's earliest (pre-MSDOS) success in making their version of the BASIC programming language a microcomputer standard. Only once piracy made it quite popular did it make sense to protect it.* For the same reason, it could be that low-selling indie Kindle Direct Publishing authors, and new ones, should avoid DRM. But a Random House work of literary fiction selling thousands of copies might be helped by DRM.

Such considerations make the OP question hard to answer.

________________________
* I am now reading The Innovators, from which I adopt the point above. Author Walter Isaacson doesn't tie it to DRM, but does say that people who stole Microsoft BASIC, by making the product popular, actually helped Microsoft make later sales -- especially to hardware makers like Apple who bundled that software with their hardware. This again isn't an exact analogy to eBooks, but it does suggest that whether or not DRM helps depends on the book.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Catlady

DRM potentially inconveniences paying customers but does not stop piracy. So just what is the upside for authors and publishers?

It doesn't stop what's normally referred to as piracy on torrents & other mass distribution methods. What it can stop or limit is the non tech type reader who has no idea how DRM really works or what it is let alone how to remove it and would never think to go looking for a "free" copy online, but would gladly "lend" a copy of their purchased book(s) to three or four friends (who then "lend" it to a couple more). This casual sharing is something a lot of people don't think of as piracy and something many publishers & authors fear.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

It doesn't stop what's normally referred to as piracy on torrents & other mass distribution methods. What it can stop or limit is the non tech type reader who has no idea how DRM really works or what it is let alone how to remove it and would never think to go looking for a "free" copy online, but would gladly "lend" a copy of their purchased book(s) to three or four friends (who then "lend" it to a couple more). This casual sharing is something a lot of people don't think of as piracy and something many publishers & authors fear.

Lending to three or four people is something people can do, and have done, with physical books. I used to lose books routinely when they were passed around from person to person. Physical books are also available secondhand; the publisher and author get no profit from that buying and selling. This sharing and recycling is not new and it's not piracy.

Why not go after the real pirates and the file-sharing sites, instead of inconveniencing Aunt Mary who wants to share a book with Cousin Pete? And who will probably figure out how to do it anyway?

[Fluribus]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Lending to three or four people is something people can do, and have done, with physical books. I used to lose books routinely when they were passed around from person to person. Physical books are also available secondhand; the publisher and author get no profit from that buying and selling. This sharing and recycling is not new and it's not piracy.

I'm sure they would stop this if they had the ability. I've seen complaints from the game, movie, music, and publishing industries. They hate the fact that physical copies can be traded/resold without anyone being required to pay them again.

Part of the firestorm against the Xbox One revolved around plans for new DRM on console discs. Allow publishers to put a tollbooth on the used game highway.

[chookie2]

We can gift or lend books to friends and family secondhand or new - but not DRM, we can borrow from libraries and copy a fair share - but not DRM. DRM seems to restrict access and reading and I am sure agin that.

[tubemonkey]

I have a second ereader that I loan out to family and friends every now and then. They go through my library and I download the books they want to read.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Lending to three or four people is something people can do, and have done, with physical books. I used to lose books routinely when they were passed around from person to person. Physical books are also available secondhand; the publisher and author get no profit from that buying and selling. This sharing and recycling is not new and it's not piracy.

Many publishers would stop the used book trade if it was possible for them to do. Yes lending with paper books happens all the time, but what many call lending or sharing with eBooks is really giving someone else a perfect condition copy of the book file which they can also easily pass on, it can add up quickly to dozens of copies. There are of course mechanisms to lend eBooks that make sure this isn't the case, but many big pubs don't allow for them. Myself I lend out an old reader with books on it from time to time and although it's technically a second copy of the book I figure it's close to the spirit the way I'd lend a paper book.

Why not go after the real pirates and the file-sharing sites, instead of inconveniencing Aunt Mary who wants to share a book with Cousin Pete? And who will probably figure out how to do it anyway?

Because they know it's impossible & too costly to stop? I don't know. I was just throwing in something I hadn't seem mentioned in this thread that I've seen mentioned by publishers over the years. I'm sure Aunt Mary could figure it out, but will she bother to try? Many people when you tell them eBooks can't be shared like paper books just shrug and accept it. If it was just sharing with Cousin Pete & Mrs. Peabody next door they probably wouldn't get as worried. It's if them Cousin Pete shares it with his bowling team, who in turn share it with their families & friends which all of them look at as just being nice and sharing a book.

[Waylander]

Drm doesn't stop piracy, because anyone who has the tech know-how to strip drm has the know-how to upload to torrent sites/mobilism etc, and drm is a pretty paper thin protective measure against those sorts of people. For the general populace, it is a non-issue, as most don't even know it's there, and don't care because they are locked into their respective ebook ecosystems and just want to read their books on their respective devices. I suspect most people would give you a confused look if you started talking to them about Calibre, drm and that certain apprentice.

[cromag]

I don't "like" DRM. It makes it difficult for me to read books that I pay for on my choice of ereaders.

On the other hand, I have found pirate sites hosting my ebooks -- and (honestly) you will not find a less significant author than me. Many of them offer the book with the suggestion that the reader buy a copy if they liked it. Ha!

So, obviously, I'm of two minds on the subject.

If an unbreakable DRM scheme was developed -- especially if it tied me to one manufacturer's hardware -- I'd probably start buying many more paper books again. And visiting both my public library and used book store more often.

I'd like to see cultures adapt, and recognize that intellectual property in digital format is still "property" and should be treated as such.

In the meantime, I keep plugging along. I don't share my ebooks with anyone (although if my wife and/or kids expressed an interest I might lend them one of my ereaders), and I don't download pirated copies. If I must read what I consider to be an overpriced book I borrow a paper copy from my library -- if they don't have it, they can get it, and someone gets paid for one legitimate sale, anyway.

[disconnected]

I'm not sure how I feel about watermarking, for a couple of reasons.

First, my ebooks are backed up to a cloud service as well as to physical media and, as has been pointed out, there are vulnerabilities inherent in that.

Second, I'm clueless about what watermarking actually involves. I buy all my ebooks from legal sources and then add them to Calibre with Alf's plugins (was very grateful to find Alf after the demise of Peanut Press/ereader/Fictionwise and MSLit). It seems like a pretty good bet that I'll be able to convert my books to any new format that comes along so I'll continue to have access to them. Are all forms of watermarking future-proof? If there end up being a lot of types of watermarking is it possible that some of them will trip up conversion programs down the road?

[HarryT]

Watermarking does not impact the ability to convert books from one format to the next.

Regarding the first point: I would say that it is your responsibility to ensure that your books are safely stored in a place where they cannot be copied, but if you upload your books to a reputable Cloud service (Dropbox, etc - not the sites run by criminals) and that site is then hacked, you're in the clear.

[meeera]

Being theoretically "in the clear" is all very well, but you're still out legal fees.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by meeera

Being theoretically "in the clear" is all very well, but you're still out legal fees.

If you balance the extremely small probability of books being stolen and maliciously redistributed (something which I'm not aware of ever having happened - are you?) against the far greater benefit of being able to track pirated books back to their source, I think the balance lies massively in favour of being able to track down pirates.

If the thought of Cloud services being hacked is a concern to you, don't use them.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

I do think the "casual" sharer is more dangerous than most people comprehend. I even had a relative "share" a file with a friend. Obviously a discussion ensued. The relative never thought a thing of it--certainly didn't think of it harming my income. It's ignorance and lack of forethought that is the biggest danger. But generally people who will share something casually are not going to sit down and break DRM. They aren't that interested. The DRM serves as a reminder that "oh yeah, I'm not supposed to share." Make it too easy and you can have a disaster.

I think your relative was doing you a favour. People discover new authors through recommendations. I do understand that you don't share this view.

And this is where I think good watermarking can help. Not the part of watermarking that's hidden but a nice big up-front 'Ex-Libris' page with a pretty graphic, details of the original purchasor, ebook store, perhaps even price paid, and an author's signature.

Remind people that the copy they've been given to read isn't really theirs - that it's effectively a loaned book.

I would actually LIKE to have well-done watermarking in this way, so that I don't have to keep track of where I bought an ebook myself! And a pretty graphic and signature of the author to make it a feature. I was disappointed by the watermarking in the HP books, which was very dull.

[Fluribus]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Regarding the first point: I would say that it is your responsibility to ensure that your books are safely stored in a place where they cannot be copied, but if you upload your books to a reputable Cloud service (Dropbox, etc - not the sites run by criminals) and that site is then hacked, you're in the clear.

I would not want any law to mandate such a responsibility. I lock my doors because it's prudent, not because some court will punish me. My responsibility should be to refrain from intentionally distributing copies.

If I leave my Kindle on a bus, that's unfortunate. I would hope I'd get it back. I would hope that the books on it didn't get uploaded to the internet. I shouldn't be in breach of some duty to protect the intellectual property rights of the publishers and authors of those books.