diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/the-danger-of-ebooks.html')
-rw-r--r-- | talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/the-danger-of-ebooks.html | 149 |
1 files changed, 149 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/the-danger-of-ebooks.html b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/the-danger-of-ebooks.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..77d44cb --- /dev/null +++ b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/the-danger-of-ebooks.html @@ -0,0 +1,149 @@ +<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" --> +<!-- Parent-Version: 1.90 --> +<title>The Danger of E-Books +- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> +<!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/the-danger-of-ebooks.translist" --> +<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> +<h2>The Danger of E-Books</h2> + +<p class="comment">In an age where business dominates our governments and writes our laws, +every technological advance offers business an opportunity to impose new +restrictions on the public. Technologies that could have empowered us are +used to chain us instead.</p> + +<p>With printed books,</p> +<ul> +<li>You can buy one with cash, anonymously.</li> +<li>Then you own it.</li> +<li>You are not required to sign a license that restricts your use of it.</li> +<li>The format is known, and no proprietary technology is needed to read the +book.</li> +<li>You can give, lend or sell the book to another.</li> +<li>You can, physically, scan and copy the book, and it's sometimes lawful +under copyright.</li> +<li>Nobody has the power to destroy your book.</li> +</ul> + +<p>Contrast that with Amazon e-books (fairly typical):</p> +<ul> +<li>Amazon requires users to identify themselves to get an e-book.</li> +<li>In some countries, including the US, Amazon says the user cannot +own the e-book.</li> +<li>Amazon requires the user to accept a restrictive license on use of the +e-book.</li> +<li>The format is secret, and only proprietary user-restricting software can +read it at all.</li> +<li>An ersatz “lending” is allowed for some books, for a limited time, but +only by specifying by name another user of the same system. No giving or +selling.</li> +<li>To copy the e-book is impossible due to +<a href="/philosophy/right-to-read.html">Digital Restrictions Management</a> +in the player and prohibited by the license, which is more restrictive than +copyright law.</li> +<li>Amazon can remotely delete the e-book using a back door. It used this +back door in 2009 to delete thousands of copies of George Orwell's 1984.</li> +</ul> + +<p>Even one of these infringements makes e-books a step backward from +printed books. We must reject e-books until they respect our freedom [<a href="#footnote2">2</a>].</p> + +<p>The e-book companies say denying our traditional freedoms is +necessary to continue to pay authors. The current copyright system +supports those companies handsomely and most authors badly. We can +support authors better in other ways that don't require curtailing our +freedom, and even legalize sharing. Two methods I've suggested +are:</p> + +<ul> +<li>To distribute tax funds to authors based on the cube root of each +author's popularity [<a href="#footnote1">1</a>].</li> +<li>To design players so users can send authors anonymous voluntary payments.</li> +</ul> + +<p>E-books need not attack our freedom (Project Gutenberg's e-books don't), +but they will if companies get to decide. It's up to us to stop them.</p> + +<blockquote class="announcement"> +<p>Join the fight: sign up +at <a href="http://DefectiveByDesign.org/ebooks.html"> +http://DefectiveByDesign.org/ebooks.html</a>.</p> +</blockquote> + +<div class="column-limit"></div> +<h3 style="font-size: 1.2em">Footnotes</h3> +<ol> +<li id="footnote1">See both my speech +<a href="/philosophy/copyright-versus-community.html">“Copyright +versus Community in the Age of Computer Networks”</a> +and <a href="http://stallman.org/articles/internet-sharing-license.en.html">my +2012 open letter to the President of the Brazilian Senate</a>, Senator +José Sarney, for more on this.</li> +<li id="footnote2">[2019] To show our rejection of Amazon's e-book reader, +we call it <a href="/philosophy/why-call-it-the-swindle.html">the +Swindle</a>.</li> +</ol> + +</div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> +<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> +<div id="footer"> +<div class="unprintable"> + +<p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to +<a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. +There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> +the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent +to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> + +<p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, + replace it with the translation of these two: + + We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality + translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. + Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard + to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> + <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> + + <p>For information on coordinating and submitting translations of + our web pages, see <a + href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations + README</a>. --> +Please see the <a +href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations +README</a> for information on coordinating and submitting translations +of this article.</p> +</div> + +<!-- Regarding copyright, in general, standalone pages (as opposed to + files generated as part of manuals) on the GNU web server should + be under CC BY-ND 4.0. Please do NOT change or remove this + without talking with the webmasters or licensing team first. + Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the + document. For web pages, it is ok to list just the latest year the + document was modified, or published. + + If you wish to list earlier years, that is ok too. + Either "2001, 2002, 2003" or "2001-2003" are ok for specifying + years, as long as each year in the range is in fact a copyrightable + year, i.e., a year in which the document was published (including + being publicly visible on the web or in a revision control system). + + There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers + Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. --> + +<p>Copyright © 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019 Richard Stallman</p> + +<p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" +href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative +Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p> + +<!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" --> + +<p class="unprintable">Updated: +<!-- timestamp start --> +$Date: 2019/12/30 11:28:30 $ +<!-- timestamp end --> +</p> +</div> +</div> +</body> +</html> |