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Teaching kids to pirate e-books
July 1, 2006 | 6:39 am
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By David Rothman
Hassle-filled DRM systems could be a great way to convince young people to fileshare e-books, regardless of the law (sarcasm alert). Read the story of Griff, from Lime Wire.
Although about the music business, Griff’s tale of woe could apply to books, too. Remember the almost-instant scanning of the latest paper Harry Potter book, and connect the dots. Even the best DRM system can’t prevent that. So major file-sharing could well be a risk if e-book publishers bungle the DRM issue, especially when e-book hardware improves.
I’ll be curious if the IDPF gets in the way of convenient DRM in its efforts to keep Adobe and ETI happy. “Convenient” is a must. I’d prefer no DRM for e-book buyers, but if publishers insist, they need to do copy-protection right and make legal e-books easy to buy and own. In this vein, DRM mustn’t be allowed to prop up the Tower of eBabel.
Detail: In Griff’s case, many fair use advocates would argue he should be able to download music he already owned via a CD purchase. The recording industry would disagree, and presumaby publishers would as well.
A promise: No more DRM items–for the next five minutes, anyway.
Related: Star Force DRM to threaten e-book aficionados, in MobileRead.
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Comments:
Unrelated note: Lime Wire’s blog seems to have a lot of interesting stuff about media and technology.
David: Thanks for picking up the story. I certainly fall into the category of fair-use advocates. The industry is pushing so hard in its enforcement of copyright that it is having an opposite effect, not only stifling derivative creativity (as most creative works are, after all) but also making criminals out of otherwise innocent folks.
Robert: I’m glad you like the blog–we’ve just revived it from its lethargic previous life. Hopefully things will continue to go well.
You’re very welcome, Nathan. Let’s hope that book publishers can learn from the music industry’s many mistakes. – David
I suspect that if Griff had bought a Mac along with his iPod, he wouldn’t have any trouble. This sounds like one of those types of copy protection that automatically and silently install themselves on Windows computers without asking. Similarly, if he knows any geeks with their own Linux box, they could probably help him out too. Of course, if Griff lived in a country like the UK, then it wouldn’t matter how he did it, it’d still be illegal; even if the BPI have said “we promise not to prosecute! honest!” such a promise isn’t worth the paper it’s not printed on.