Hi Nettie,<br><br>Yes. That was part of the point I was trying to make: there is a lot of sentiment within the open source community that DRM is unfairly restrictive--not that it just provides a disincentive to violate copyright but that it actually limits legitimate usage. Give a smart, young, activist open sourcer a technological challenge and s/he'll tend to take it up, head on--and then "brag" about it by giving away the means to reproduce the feat. <br>
<br>Outside of that, I'll give you a very practical example of where DRM is a real problem: Say I buy an ePub book through Adobe Digitial Editions. It is stored on my hard drive as an ePub but is encrypted such that I cannot read it on any reader other than Adobe Digital Editions. A similar scenario applies to books that are FairPlay DRM'ed--they are only readable through iTunes approved readers. <br>
<br>This is massively restrictive. If I buy a book why should I not be able to read it on whatever device I choose?<br><br>Cheers,<br>ken<br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Feb 17, 2010 at 11:51 AM, Nettie Fischer <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:nettiet@gmail.com">nettiet@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<div>Hi Ken </div>
<div>I would like to add a little addition to your comment; the person who wants to steal something, will spend the energies and time to do just that. And, the more difficult the task, the greater the bravado in doing so. :) For me, I have better things to do with my time <smile> as do most honest persons.</div>
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<div>Nettie <br><br></div><div><div></div><div class="h5">
<div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 9:22 PM, Ken Petri <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:petri.1@osu.edu" target="_blank">petri.1@osu.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;" class="gmail_quote">The DRM that Adobe uses to encrypt ePub books served through their Adobe Digital Editions (via Content Server) can be cracked using a couple of easy to find Python scripts. Someone will find (probably already has found) a way to crack the FairPlay DRM Apple uses in iTunes (though it does sound more complex than Content Server). Then, with a little bit of effort, any motivated person will be able to permanently "open" a DRM'ed ePub book. Once he has the opened ePub he can use it on any platform/device he chooses, and it is up to him to decide if he wants to break the law and give it or sell it to someone else. <br>
<br>I appreciate O'Reilly's stance. They know that the more restrictive you make the DRM on a book you sell, the more roadblocks to usage the rightful owner will encounter in using the book--limits on how many personal copies he can make of something he legally purchased, limits on which of his own devices he can use to read/listen to them. <br>
<br>O'Reilly seem to implicitly trust that people will tend to do the ethical thing and buy a book, rather than steal it. And they seem to believe that the tendency once you buy something is not to give it away for free.<br>
<br>Apple (and most major book publishers), on the other hand, want to keep the user using iTunes for everything, and seem not to trust that someone who pays for a book will respect copyright. I find that attitude insulting and infantilizing--and if I were interested in pirating books, the insult and infantilization would provide strong motivation.<br>
<br>ken<br clear="all">--<br><br><br>
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<div>On Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 12:28 PM, Shelley Haven <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ShelleyHaven@techpotential.net" target="_blank">ShelleyHaven@techpotential.net</a>></span> wrote:<br></div></div>
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<div style="word-wrap: break-word;">The LA Times reports that Apple is offering their DRM "FairPlay" (currently used on iTunes) to publishers for their ePub-formatted ebooks on the upcoming iPad. It limits how many times digital songs can be copied to other devices; presumably it would work the same, limiting how many instances of a downloaded ebook could co-exist on a user's devices. (Link below article.)
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<h1 style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 26px; font-weight: 100;"><a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: 100; text-decoration: underline;" title="Apple to wrap digital books in FairPlay copy protection [Clarified]" href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/02/apple-ibooks-drm-fairplay.html" rel="bookmark" target="_blank">Apple to wrap digital books in FairPlay copy protection [Clarified]</a></h1>
<div style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 8px;">February 15, 2010</div>
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<p style="text-align: left; padding: 0px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px;">When Apple launches its iBook store to sell titles for its new iPad device in March, many of its titles are expected to come with a set of handsome digital locks designed to deter piracy.</p>
<p style="text-align: left; padding: 0px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px;">Veteran iTunes customers will recognize the locks as FairPlay, a digital rights management software that once limited how many times digital songs can be copied onto different computers. (Apple <a style="color: rgb(34, 98, 204); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;" href="http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/01/06itunes.html" target="_blank">phased out</a> FairPlay for music a year ago, and now sells unfettered tunes.)</p>
<p style="text-align: left; padding: 0px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px;">Next month, Apple will be dusting off those digital cuffs for books, according to sources in the publishing industry.</p>
<p style="text-align: left; padding: 0px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px;">No doubt some publishers, including O'Reilly Media -- which has vociferously argued that digital locks are harmful to sales -- will opt not to deploy FairPlay. (O'Reilly, which puts out technical books, was not on the list of five publishers during Apple's announcement of the iPad, but is discussing a deal with Apple.)</p>
<p style="text-align: left; padding: 0px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px;">But the majority of publishers are expected to embrace FairPlay, along with other copy protection software such as Adobe's <a style="color: rgb(34, 98, 204); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;" href="http://www.adobe.com/products/contentserver/" target="_blank">Content Server 4</a>, as a means to squelch incipient book piracy as the e-book market begins to take off.</p>
<p style="text-align: left; padding: 0px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px;">-- Alex Pham</p>
<p style="text-align: left; padding: 0px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px;"><b style="font-style: normal; font-weight: bold;">Clarified 1:50 pm:</b> <i style="font-style: italic; font-weight: normal;">An earlier version of this post said Apple phased out FairPlay a year ago and now sells songs without DRM. Apple continues to use FairPlay to protect other iTunes content. Thanks to our readers for noticing this omission!</i></p>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br></div></div><font color="#888888">-- <br>Nettie T. Fischer, ATP<br>Assistive Technology Professional<br>Nettiet, ATP Consultants<br><a href="http://www.nettietatpconsultants.com" target="_blank">www.nettietatpconsultants.com</a><br>
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