[A2k] Re: [Upd-discuss] MORE Swindle Context 3: World Blind Union's Proposed Exceptions Treaty

[Michael S. Hart]

On Sat, 18 Apr 2009, Richard M Stallman wrote:

>     Yeah, right. . .don't accept a half full glass
>     because it is half empty. . . !
>
> "Half full" overstates it.  If 1 person in 10,000 is blind,
> this treaty is either .01% full or 99.99% empty.


I am going to hold you to the same standards you bring up here.


But first:


If this were the case, there would be 67.75 million blind people.

However, there are only 45 million blind, easy enough to look up.

So you have robbed yourself of a major portion of your point.


My point:

If we are still talking about the Kindle, etc., which is where I
made the point you are attempting to discredit, there are only 1
million Kindle AND Sony eBook readers COMBINED.

1 million. . . .

As you have put it yourself:


"'Half full' overstates it."

Not even counting the world without computers, we must consider
over 1 billion people with computers.

1 million. . .compared to 1 billion. . .your argument is backed
up and turned around on you. . .because then we are considering
exactly the same numbers YOU just ranted and raved about:

"'Half full'" overstates it.  If 1 person in 10,000 is [Kindled],
> this treaty is either .01% full or 99.99% empty.

i.e. presuming we are still talking about Kindles, etc., and you
are not changing the subject, we were talking about insigificant
portions of the population.

Now, right up front, I agree that Amazon is being a total jerk!

I couldn't agree with you more, and I think you should have also
brought up the various "upgrades" in the past that have taken an
entirely suitable eBook reader, such as the Rocketbook, but done
things to it that eliminated certain features, that made it then
into a "downgrade" rather than an "upgrade."

[I do not limit this policy to just eBook reader companies.]

I think you should be going not just after the policies or laws,
but after those people who make them.

You should be going after the Amazon Kindle directly, it should,
literally, be easy to wipe out in the face of all the iPhones or
clones out there that are in the same price bracket but do quite
a bit more than just do eBooks.  I predict they will read aloud,
and many other things, in the next generation.

The Kindle and Sony are NOT selling. . .let's face it, they both
refused to release sales figures from the very start.

I'll bet I have managed to give away more eBooks in a best month
total than either Kindle or Sony have sold since day one at that
$10 price tag they talk about.

I also warn you, yet once again, that it is useless to talk this
stuff with WIPO because THEY ARE THE ROOT OF THIS CONFLICT.

Don't you realize that?


So, if you shoot the rights of the blind out the window, how can
you consider the rights of Kindle owners?

Is there more principle at stake for Kindle owners?

Are there more Kindle owners?

I'll bet you won't answer either one with a "YES!"


Don't shoot yourself in the foot by killing a deal for the blind
and instead just make sure there is no admission that the rights
of anyone else will be abrogated. . . .

Take the one without giving in on the other.

Eh?


Michael S. Hart
Founder
Project Gutenberg
Inventor of eBooks


> If the treaty were going to help blind people and hurt no one, there
> would be no reason to object.  But that's not what it will do.  The
> indirect effect of this special exception for blind people will be to
> solidify their clampdown over everyone else, and facilitate their
> attempt to impose it on other countries.
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