Protecting media from illegal filesharing is essential for the film and music industries, but applying DRM to e-books could prove more trouble than it's worth.
Tom Spring investigates The publishing industry's worst nightmares are coming true: the e-book reader's steadily increasing popularity has been matched by growth in piracy. Once relatively limited and dominated by technical titles, the pool of illegally downloadable publications available online now includes bestsellers from Janet Evanovich, John Grisham, James Patterson and JK Rowling. We discovered virtual bookshelves stuffed with pirated titles, ranging from copyrighted popular fiction and non-fiction to college textbooks and how-to e-books. All are ready for viewing on your reader of choice. "We know e-book piracy is a problem and we are taking the issue very seriously. We've seen the music and film industry deal with this and it stands to reason we will grapple with it too," said Paul Aiken, executive director of The Authors Guild. Aiken is concerned about the growth in the availability of copyrighted e-book titles online, but said he isn't convinced that the number of people downloading the files is increasing proportionately. Illicit e-books aren't as widespread or easy to acquire as pirated audio tracks. Such titles are also often poorly reproduced in PDF, consisting of scanned-in page images rather than text. Piracy concerns have kept many publishers and authors - most notably JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series - from embracing the e-book format. But this refusal to provide sought-after titles in a digital format can itself drive piracy, warned consumer technology analyst Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group. For little outlay, a determined pirate can convert any book into an unprotected text file, even if a legitimate e-book is never created. "The fear of electronic piracy is actually fuelling the piracy movement," said Enderle. JK Rowling's fears have already been realised in this way, with scanned-in PDF versions of the Harry Potter series illegally available for use with any e-book reader. DRM is no e-book piracy fix Protecting e-books with digital rights management (DRM) is a simple solution, but the practice has faced criticism from the publishing industry and consumers. While publishers are wary of reports that the DRM technologies used by the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader have been hacked, consumers are hesitant to buy titles that are restricted for use on a limited number of readers. Critics say that the two providers of DRM-protected e-books, Amazon and Adobe, are stunting market progress by selling their digital titles in different formats. Consumers who purchase a DRM-restricted AZW-format e-book for their Amazon Kindle won't be able to transfer that file to Sony's Reader, for example. DRM issues get thornier still when device makers such as Amazon start negotiating exclusive e-publishing rights for their product. For example, Amazon has signed a deal with best-selling business writer Stephen R Covey to publish several of his books, including The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and Principle-Centered Leadership, exclusively for the Kindle. The company has also negotiated exclusive rights for Kindle e-books from author Stephen King and for a biography of America's first lady, Michelle Obama. A more flexible DRM? The idea that e-books are tied to devices, often exclusively, is akin to consumers being allowed to play a new CD only on a certain brand of player. Ian Fried, vice-president of Amazon Kindle, claims that Kindle owners don't mind its DRM. We're not convinced. In any case, this apparent acceptance could all change as a predicted flood of rival readers hits the market in 2010 and Kindle owners consider jumping ship. Nick Bogaty, an expert in DRM technology at Adobe, said that the company is yielding to critics who say its antipiracy technology is too restrictive by loosening its grip on DRM. Adobe DRM-protected books, which are used by Sony and Barnes & Noble, can be read on up to 12 different devices (six desktop and six handheld), meaning users can already share e-books with friends. Marcia Layton Turner is one author who's more interested in making her books available electronically than worrying about piracy, with potential new revenue reason enough to jump on the e-book bandwagon. "I'd rather sell twice as many books and lose a few sales than miss out on those additional sales altogether," said Turner. And many others agree: piracy concerns take a back seat to the challenge of getting people to read books in the first place. Technical telepathy: 09969636745 Saints are not always saints; sinners are not always sinners. Voice your thoughts in the blog to discuss the Rights of persons with disability bill at: http://www.accessindia.org.in/harish/blog.htm To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
