How do you feel about DRM?

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by HarryT

How do libraries operate without DRM? How do books expire at the end of the loan period?

They don't expire. It's an honor system.

http://sanantonio.lib.overdrive.com/...enEPUB-PDF.htm

If you belong to FLP, you can do an advanced search for Open ePUB books. They have hundreds.

http://freelibrary.lib.overdrive.com...rtBy=Relevancy

J.A. Konrath's books are Open ePUB on OverDrive, for example.

[anamardoll]

Added: Is an honor system really so shocking? The tools to break Adobe DRM on library books are the same as the tools to break Adobe DRM on bought books. It comes down the same thing: DRM doesn't stop dishonest people, but it does annoy honest people who have to reformat their Nook every 6 months because B&N can't handle the concept of credit card changes without borking the device.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

They don't expire. It's an honor system.

http://sanantonio.lib.overdrive.com/...enEPUB-PDF.htm

If you belong to FLP, you can do an advanced search for Open ePUB books. They have hundreds.

http://freelibrary.lib.overdrive.com...rtBy=Relevancy

J.A. Konrath's books are Open ePUB on OverDrive, for example.

Can't see too many commercial publishers going for that, myself. Although of course, the majority of people ARE honest, businesses have to acknowledge the regrettable fact that some people are not. That's why supermarkets have checkouts, and not just an "honesty box" at the door.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by BenG

No different than retail stores using security tags on their merchandise (though probably less effective).

Originally Posted by HarryT

So you don't shop in any store that puts security tags on their goods?

The big difference is that shops remove the security tags when you buy the item.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

The big difference is that shops remove the security tags when you buy the item.

Just as I remove the DRM when I buy an eBook .

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Just as I remove the DRM when I buy an eBook .

But you can agree that DRM is not the same as security tags in a store. Unless you hack the server or hack a credit card there is no way to steal an ebook. Not a good comparison, IMO.

[Ninjalawyer]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Just as I remove the DRM when I buy an eBook .

But one is illegal, the other is not.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Ninjalawyer

But one is illegal, the other is not.

Not where I live, it's not.

[BillSmithBooks]

Originally Posted by Beryll Snyder

Suspected to be a criminal is just your fantasy - they want to protect their income, that is all.

Where are these great sources if 95% of quality literature is not offered there?

Great sources: Smashwords, Baen, Fictionwise, BooksforaBuck, DriveThru, Gutenburg, ManyBooks, Feedbooks, many authors and webzines offer excellent fiction...outstanding selection of works from classics to newer authors.

As for stores that tag merchandise, they remove the tags after I have purchased and I am free to do with whatever I wish with my goods as soon as I have left the store. That is a SALE.

Crippling products with DRM is NOT a sale, although it is deceitfully marketed as a sale. DRM vendors are essentially lying to everyone who "purchases" from them.

"Suspected to be a criminal is just your fantasy" --

Okay, let's back down the Santorum-esque <i>whargarble</i> a bit. If that is my "fantasy" -- you being the person who aspires to put words into my mouth and accuse me of some unstated motive -- let me say two can play that game:

Since it is your perhaps that readers should be thrilled to have DRM on their books, then perhaps it is your fantasy to be a shill for the DRM-infatuated publishers and vendors.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Can't see too many commercial publishers going for that, myself. Although of course, the majority of people ARE honest, businesses have to acknowledge the regrettable fact that some people are not. That's why supermarkets have checkouts, and not just an "honesty box" at the door.

Carina press does, though, as do -- I think -- the O'Reilly tech manuals folks.

Once again, the Techies and the Romancies seem to be ahead of the game on this stuff, imho.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Ninjalawyer

But one is illegal, the other is not.

We've had enough of removing DRM is illegal. It's not illegal. No judge has ever ruled that it is illegal and the DMCA is just a jumble of contradictions.

[cHex]

DRM is part of the myth that publishers can control information. In reality, they can't. DRM is next to irrelevant.

[CyGuy]

Originally Posted by appypaddy

I am vehemently opposed to DRM, and have never bought a single piece of DRM-controlled material..

That would be every DVD and every Bluray, at least as far as encrypted content...

[rdfry]

As long as it can be removed it's not relevant to me.

[Ninjalawyer]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

We've had enough of removing DRM is illegal. It's not illegal. No judge has ever ruled that it is illegal and the DMCA is just a jumble of contradictions.

In the U.S., breaking digital locks on DRM is clearly against the DMCA. Here's subsection 1201(a) of the Act:

(a) VIOLATIONS REGARDING CIRCUMVENTION OF TECHNOLOGICAL MEASURES. (1)(A) No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title...

Subsection 1201(2) of the Act further states:

(2) As used in this subsection—
(A) to ‘circumvent protection afforded by a technological measure’ means avoiding, bypassing, removing, deactivating, or otherwise impairing a technological measure; and

(B) a technological measure ‘effectively protects a right of a copyright owner under this title’ if the measure, in the ordinary course of its operation, prevents, restricts, or otherwise limits the exercise of a right of a copyright owner under this title.

And there have been civil cases where these sections were used and ruled on (a case against a company making dvd copying software comes to mind).

Here's the TL;DR version: