Federico Heinz Re: [A2k] Bookshare DRM and selling out

[Taran A. Rampersad]

Manon Ress wrote:
>> However, I expect it rather to have the opposite effect:
>> schemes like Bookshare, which subject blind readers to DRM, will
>> reassure and support the legislators that hate our freedoms.
>>
>
> You may, of course, choose to read the above as "Bookshare has sold
> out", but
> it's not what it says. Choosing to read it that way is seeking a
> confrontation
> where none exists, and I don't think that is ever a good idea, so please
> refrain from doing so.
>
That same excerpt has some powerful keywords: Schemes. Subject (the
verb). Hate. Freedoms. That's confrontational. There's really no need to
sugarcoat what RMS says - if he doesn't bother, no one else should... he
tends to write what he means and how he means it. I don't always agree
with RMS, but I most certainly respect him.

Since I'm between PCs right now so I don't know more of what Jim wrote -
but unless it's something along the lines of "No, we're not sweeping
Fair Use under the carpet in the name of DRM and thus we are supporting
the handicapped"... well, I don't see that there's much to discuss.

Fact is that if someone is selling me, or anyone else, something for
cash - we shouldn't have to pay with our Rights as well. We shouldn't
have to pay for the same material more than once, but we are often
forced to by the media on which the material is. That stands for anyone.
Anywhere. Anytime.

I'll pay authors. I'll even pay publishers. But when I own something, I
should have Fair Use. I should be able to use it in the manner that
suits me best - be I visually impaired or have a learning 'disability'
which allows me to absorb information better if I receive it through
audio. If I wish to read it in another language, that should be fair
game as well.

If creators and publishers spent more time creating and publishing and
less time defending the last things that they created or published...

And in an amusing turn of events, had this email list been under DRM...
would Jim have gotten the email to respond to in the first place? Think
about it.

T.