[Free-sklyarov-uk] [Fwd: RE: ebooks] WHSmith on their ebooks

[Matthew Johnson]

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Ouch! theres some scary implications in here.... the whole way they want this 
distributed, they are definitely trying to change the rules compared to 
conventional print media.

> 1) Yes you need to download the Adobe eBook Reader.  Acrobat Reader
> cannot
> read the encryption that is placed on Adobe eBooks.

Thats fair enough.... XYX format needs XYZ reader - nothing new, although if 
there isn't an eBook reader for you're particular platform theres not a whole 
lot you can do.

> 2) You  can try it without uninstalling McAfee, but if it doesn't work
> there
> isn't anything we can do, since Adobe doesn't support that system
> configuration.

How can they not support it because you are running some other software?! 
Presumably their DRM comflicts with the access McAfee will allow it... or 
something... but they're trying to specify the exact system configuration you 
have to use?

>
> 4) You can print 25 pages every 10 days.
>

erm..... who came up with this? I can see why they need to lock it into their 
format, but given that I can just screenshot it and print it.... does it 
*really* help at all?

> 5)  If an Adobe eBook file is copied, it cannot be opened later.
>
> 6)  Adobe eBooks can only be opened on the computer they were downloaded
> to. When the book is downloaded, it is encrypted to the certification code
> of the eBook Reader - each eBook Reader has a unique code.  You would have
> to purchase it and download it again at home.

These last two are really not good news - all the media people have been 
trying this on recently, but this is rather more overt - you need to purchase 
it twice, just to move it to a different place?! Theres a limited number of 
places I would want to read an eBook, compared to (for example) number of 
places I listen to music - but thats like having not only to pay to convert 
you're CD to mp3 (as we've seen at least once) but even to put it in your CD 
player in another room, or the one in the car! 

Isn't it called 1st sale rights or something? In the US at least (anyone know 
about the UK details - can't find anything after a quick google search) the 
law is that (quote from web:) 

"....permits the owner of a particular copy ... to sell or otherwise dispose 
of possession of that copy ... without the authority of the copyright owner, 
Commonly referred to as the ``first sale doctrine,'' this provision permits 
such activities as the sale of used books...." 

This, combined with Dmitri's imprisonment after cracking exactly this 
encryption scheme has *got* to show that the DMCA / EUCD are unconstitutional 
(and whatever the equivelant is here). The eBook encryption obviously 
inhibits this use - you cannot even move the eBook from one machine to 
another, since that involves making a copy, the deleting the original, and 
even the original is locked to you're copy of eBook Reader.

Side note: what happens if you reinstall eBook Reader... or if you have to 
reinstall Windows - your eBook is now useless and you have to buy another 
copy? 

I was browsing around for stuff about this on the internet, and I saw an 
interesting piece here: 
http://www.bootstrap.org/colloquium/session_07/session_07_simons.html
that mentions this regarding books. what it says is :

"User rights, first sale. If I by a book, I can give you the copy.š 
Can?t do it to sell it to you cause that is contract law.š 
It?s kind of interesting that there was an effort made to licensing 
books in the early 20th Century. Basically put books under contract law, 
to kill the first sale right. By licensing them and basically any resale 
was marked by the original retail price that it would cost. It would kill 
the used books market. Thisš was thrown out by the courts. This is 
similar to the things that are going on today with software, in my view. 
That is first sale. It exists in copyright, butš it does not exist 
in contract law.š"

Again, this is a US site, bot its interesting nonetheless

- -- 
Matthew Johnson. <techieguy at breathemail.net>

Why the EU-CD is bad - don't let this become law!
http://eurorights.org/eudmca/WhyTheEUCDIsBad.html

"They that would give up essential liberty for temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- -- Benjamin Franklin

"Those who desire to give up Freedom, in order to gain Security,
will not have, nor do they deserve, either one."
- -- Thomas Jefferson

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