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

[Robert Martinengo]

It may have changed, but my understanding was Bookshare's files are
unpacked by the user and those files are not encrypted and do not
contain technical protection measures, although they are supposedly
watermarked/fingerprinted with the user ID, which I guess would be
'social DRM'.

On Mon, May 4, 2009 at 4:27 PM, Manon Ress <manon.ress@keionline.org> wrote=
:
> --
> [ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
> From: Federico Heinz <fheinz@vialibre.org.ar>
> Date: May 4, 2009 2:13:56 PM EDT
> To: <Jim@Benetech.org>
> Cc: <a2k@lists.essential.org>
> Subject: Re: [A2k] Bookshare DRM and selling out
>
>
> On 03/05/2009, Jim@Benetech.org wrote:
>> Some helpful folks forwarded me an A2K post last week from Richard
>> Stallman accusing us of selling out the blind and print disabled with
>> DRM. =A0I found that somewhat surprising [...]
>
> Quoting from the message you attached at the bottom of your message,
> RMS said:
>
>> 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.
>
> What it does say, however, is very simple: when you used the exception
> to
> make those works available to reading-impaired people, you didn't
> *need* to
> encumber the works you published with DRM. The exception didn't
> *force* you to
> do it, and you could have published the books without DRM, yet you
> *chose* to
> deliver the works with DRM.
>
> Now, works that could be available to blind people without DRM are
> delivered to
> them with DRM. Even works that were originally published without any
> DRM may
> be DRM-encumbered for blind people, after passing through Bookshare.
>
> I think it is pretty clear that Richard is right in pointing out that
> the fact
> that Bookshare *chooses* to ship its works with DRM indirectly
> supports the
> stance of DRM advocates.
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0Fede
>
>
>
>
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