I think the real foundation of the issue is that ebooks, like fanfiction, like online news articles, or downloaded iTunes, are electronic: there is nothing physical that you hold. It makes the product nebulous.
An excellent point. Ebooks aren't real books by the measure of tangibility; therefore, the copyright is also less tangible. Or something like that.
To take it one step further, the format (electronic) also make the ebook a much easier thing to pirate. A paper book can be resold a number of times, but still, it's only one physical copy and someone presumably paid for it at some point. Pirating a paper book is difficult, expensive (if you're photocopying), and time-consuming.
Pirating an ebook or audiobook is, in comparison, very easy. Break the DRM (as you pointed out earlier, the software for doing so is freely available and either open-source or very low-cost), package it up as a .torrent file or put it on Sendspace, and ouila! 3000 downloads for the presumable purchase of a single copy.
I really, honestly, truly think it's time someone came up with a DRM that will let authors track down the original purchaser of a pirated copy
Great idea! Seriously.
...and approximately five minutes later, a hacker who believe all information, everywhere, should be free creates and distributes software to remove the DRM component from a file. Because DRM software is the Evil Tool of the Man.
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Date: 14 Jun 2009 06:42 pm (UTC)An excellent point. Ebooks aren't real books by the measure of tangibility; therefore, the copyright is also less tangible. Or something like that.
To take it one step further, the format (electronic) also make the ebook a much easier thing to pirate. A paper book can be resold a number of times, but still, it's only one physical copy and someone presumably paid for it at some point. Pirating a paper book is difficult, expensive (if you're photocopying), and time-consuming.
Pirating an ebook or audiobook is, in comparison, very easy. Break the DRM (as you pointed out earlier, the software for doing so is freely available and either open-source or very low-cost), package it up as a .torrent file or put it on Sendspace, and ouila! 3000 downloads for the presumable purchase of a single copy.
I really, honestly, truly think it's time someone came up with a DRM that will let authors track down the original purchaser of a pirated copy
Great idea! Seriously.
...and approximately five minutes later, a hacker who believe all information, everywhere, should be free creates and distributes software to remove the DRM component from a file. Because DRM software is the Evil Tool of the Man.