[Dragaera] Kindle and SKZB

[Michael Wojcik]

John Dallman wrote:
> In article <b0d4e53cc6a3b4d0167f0dae49cab301.squirrel at webmail.dd-b.net>, 
> dd-b at dd-b.net (David Dyer-Bennet) wrote:
> 
>> Also, books sold to the Kindle are DRMed.  I won't touch any DRMed 
>> books (well, unless I have a break at hand and can immediately convert 
>> it into useful formats).

Yeah. Ebooks in HTML or unencumbered PDF have certain attractions,
such as for travel (the favorite example), or for dual use as text and
audio book, which might be nice if you do a lot of driving. But DRM is
a huge step backward, and a waste of everyone's time.

It would be nice if I could buy books in an open softcopy form,
through an arrangement that sent a significantly higher royalty to the
author, with professional publishing. There are high-quality academic
publishers that produce softcopy; maybe in time more mainstream
publishers will move into the market too.

> Amazon have also demonstrated the ability to remotely delete material 
> off people's Kindles. This happened with a e-book they turned out not to 
> actually have the rights to sell, and caused a considerable outcry. They 
> have promised never to do this again, but from a large company that 
> simply means they won't do it unless it's more embarrassing not to do 
> it.

As Bruce Schneier (and no doubt others) has pointed out, it also means
"we promise not to do it until compelled by a court order", which will
happen just as soon as some US publisher decides they don't like a
Kindle release and finds a friendly judge. Once the technological
means exists, there's not much point in promising not to do it.

-- 
Michael Wojcik
Micro Focus
Rhetoric & Writing, Michigan State University