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“The books will stop working.”

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Re: “The books will stop working.”

#401

Post by bayareanative »

blakesterz wrote: post #15

Can you imagine someone trying to start public libraries if they didn't already exist now? I think it's safe to say it would never ever happen, at least in the US. Between lobbying and the general disdain for most things run by any type of government here, they'd never have a chance. Luckily we still have places that still purchase printed books (along with ebooks) and you can go borrow them any time and they never s…

Yes, this. I'm surprised they're not labeled as scary "socialism" and replaced with public-private "partnerships" with commercial ads, membership fees and overpriced concessions. It seems the public commonwealth is being cannibalized for vampiric exploitation at every opportunity. You can't sit down anywhere, because it's been replaced with a sterile multi-use zoned commercial areas with a Code of Conduct* without buying something. Remember water fountains and public parks? Not anymore.

*I ate at this food truck in Austin that was in a mixed-use commercial area that had a 12 term CoC. These places typically have control-freak power-trip mall (wannabe) cops.

Re: “The books will stop working.”

#402

Post by anoncake »

la_barba wrote: post #235
docker_up wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lack of empathy in the responses is staggering to me. It's as if the idea that a content creator should be financially rewarded for his or her hard work is some sort of moral crime. Yes, DRM sucks, but what other way can content providers ensure that they get rewarded for the hard work and good content that they provide?

It is rather bizarre to see some people feel entitled to content which isn't distributed as per their own personal wishes. A principled person would chose to take his/her business elsewhere and purchase a book on a platform whose ethics they agree with. Not saying I'm some Mother Teresa type.. but I'm against online ads, and I don't run an ad-blocker. I simply don't visit sites which feature blaring in-your-face ads.…

> A principled person would chose to take his/her business elsewhere and purchase a book on a platform whose ethics they agree with.

A principled person would follow their own principles which may be different from yours.

Re: “The books will stop working.”

#403

Post by ulisesrmzroche »

jmiserez wrote: post #52
derefr wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but in a community where there wasn't an actual public library, I do believe one would inevitably come into existence as the effort of the community, in the same way those tiny libraries do. "People have spare books; community centres exist; so why not put the spare books in the community centre?"

But you'll be constrained to the old spare books of that particular community. Public libraries have a much broader selection, and they also buy new books. Also I'm not sure they'd actually come into existence everywhere, even if the internet is a poor substitute for a library it is cheaper and may be enough for many.

But only a certain kind of book; government approved books.

Definitely nothing interesting.

Re: “The books will stop working.”

#404

Post by predakanga »

loup-vaillant wrote: post #390
tzs wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Every subreddit or Youtube channel or whatever online community I’ve been a part of has had to deal with people abusing DMCA takedown notices Are you sure you've seen DMCA abuse on YouTube? They have their own system for handling alleged copyright violation that has little to do with the DMCA takedown procedure, and almost all complaints I've seen about abuse on Google have been due to that system.

> They have their own system for handling alleged copyright violation that has little to do with the DMCA takedown procedure That system is such a scourge. No fair use, no distinction between different countrie's legislations, no appeal. If you make an educational video, no matter how much effort and skill you put in, if you use some musical excerpt or images or scene, it doesn't matter how short it is, or what you'r…

> I wonder what happens when you use 2 excerpts from different major copyright holders…

That is a technique that's been used in the past, though I'm not sure if it's still effective. As far as I know, it was popularized by Jim Sterling who named it the "copyright deadlock"[0].

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube_copyright_issues#2015%...

Re: “The books will stop working.”

#405

Post by jimmaswell »

harimau777 wrote: post #122
marvindanig wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly, dead tree books aren't a solution. I mean if a tiny library at my home or town burns up, there would be serious loss of a unique collection with that too! IMO, a more robust and resilient solution would be to bring native experience of books on the web. And tie it up with open source and paid model both in two separate states: of a manuscript and that of a book. If a processor of books dies (like in this cas…

Personally I find that I just don't get as much out of digital books. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but the closest I can describe is that it feels like I'm looking through a window at a book rather than actually viewing it directly.

That's just familiarity. You could get used to digital books if you had to.

Re: “The books will stop working.”

#406

Post by dillonmckay »

gordaco wrote: post #311
saagarjha wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought all the console games get dumped so they can be emulated?

If/when Stadia and the like take off, and streaming-only games appear, we can forget about that too. By the way, this is just one of the many reasons why I think that streamed games are very much an anti-consumer move and should not be paid for in any circumstance, to prevent normalization.

I’ll lease you a thinclient for 2 years.

Re: “The books will stop working.”

#407

Post by [deleted] »

sjy wrote: post #193
dangus wrote: post #180

I'm astonished that Microsoft is apparently just refunding the original purchase price of (everybody's?) books. What's most mind boggling is the realization that apparently nobody sat down and planned this situation out - because if they did, the idea that someone could get an okay from their boss on the idea that even a mildly unsuccessful result and end of life of the product would end in full refunds for everybody…

DRM caused this problem, and if you want to convince me that the solution is more advanced DRM that somehow fails open when the company that built it goes out of business, you'll need a stronger argument than "it's probably necessary for a lot of products that obviously would not have been created had 100% of the customers decided not to pay." Abolishing copyright wouldn't eliminate all creative works. It would elimi…

[deleted]

Re: “The books will stop working.”

#408

Post by ohithereyou »

ajuc wrote: post #7

This is why DRM isn't just anti-consumer, it's also morally evil using the same logic that says libraries are a good thing. This is also why I buy games on gog.com instead of steam if they both have them.

We need legislation that only affords copyright protection to DRM-free works. Works protected by DRM should not be afforded any more protection than normal trade secrets.

Re: “The books will stop working.”

#409

Post by Retra »

la_barba wrote: post #276
Retra wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't dismiss it all as entitlement. Imagine that you have a gym membership and someone is offering a service to life your weights for you for a fee. Do you have a right not not lift weights without paying this fee? Of course you do. Some of these things that people want to charge fees for are things that you can participate in for free naturally, so long as nobody is gate-keeping you. So it's very hard to justif…

It is the freedom of the creator to pick a license and method they wish to use to distribute their work. I'm talking about DRM for things which are mostly entertainment - things like movies, games, music, etc. We all have equal freedoms to not support such platforms. I don't follow what point you're trying to make with your gym example. If the gym has some policies which you dislike, you can simply chose to not go th…

They gym doesn't have any policy. If you have a membership, you're free to use the facility or not. Real life doesn't have any policy either, if you have the capability, you're free to copy & distribute what you have access to or not. It is a third party that is trying to interfere with these native abilities. The ability to create something is not intrinsically tied to the ability to control it.

Which isn't to say there's anything wrong with copyright laws, per se. What I'm saying is that it is not 'entitlement' on the part of the copier, but entitlement on the part of the copyright holder to expect to hold dominion over other people's capabilities. That is the negotiated result of social processes.

Re: “The books will stop working.”

#410

Post by TeMPOraL »

fwn wrote: post #378
TeMPOraL wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That could easily be extended to "streamed media" in general - or, more accurately, Media as a Service. Going further, Software as a Service - or at least the part that falls under FSF's "Service as a Software Substitute" (SaaSS) - is an anti-consumer move too. Related, the trend of tying physical products to Internet services in a blatant attempt to turn ownership into renting is a hugely popular and a hugely anti-c…

Some anecdata to counter that idea: A significant part of German movie piracy is done through streaming as it allows the uploaders to monetize through ads. Piracy as a service, so to say.

Hm, interesting. I always assumed people making money on these streaming services (through both ads and premium accounts) aren't the same people as those who upload movies to them (actually, to somewhere else; these services now aggregate links to players, mostly).

I believe they're more popular than Torrents because they shield from responsibility. At least over here at Poland, your legal problems only start when you're actually infringing copyright - reproducing the work, i.e. uploading - which makes Torrents risky, but HTTP streaming fully in the clear for the viewers.

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