DMCA-type laws expected for Canada and Switzerland—and meanwhile don’t forget the Kindle angle in the U.S.
Want to protect your Kindle-format library by stripping the DRM and converting your books to an unencumbered format that won’t be obsolete in the distant future? Sorry, sucker. You’re out of luck.
In most cases in the United States you can’t legally circumvent the DRM–as if Amazon’s terms would let you do this anyway. You can thank the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. In the world of best-sellers, alas, the DRM voodoo curse reigns supreme with help from Hollywood-friendly politicians in Washington, D.C.
A toxic American export
Alas, as reported in Ars Technical and elsewhere, Canada seems on the way to adopting its own DMCA, complete with a Draconian anti-circumvention provision. And it looks as if the Swiss DMCA variant will end up the same way.
Applicable to all DRMed formats, not just Kindle’s
The anti-circumvention concepts, of course, apply to DRMed versions of formats beyond the Kindle’s. If you buy Microsoft .lit books and use a certain software product to convert them to HTML, you could be breaking the DMCA in whatever form it exists in your country. Exemptions exist here in the States, but they won’t help the typical e-book buyer.
Oh, and anti-circumvention provisions aren’t the only treat in store for e-bookers in Canada. A prominent Canadian lawyer named Michael Geist reportedly says the new law will abolish fair use, making the Canadian DMCA worse than the U.S. variety. True?
What Kindle License Agreement and Terms of Use says: “In addition, you may not, and you will not encourage, assist or authorize any other person to, bypass, modify, defeat or circumvent security features that protect the Digital Content.”
November 29th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
If DRM is to work, I think there needs to be an organization/company/consortium that can keep the formatted/encrypted copies and have the ability to authorize new kinds of output.
After that is done, the original seller can provide unconditional guarantees that a particular format is always available and convertible.
Of course, the problem is keeping track of bookkeeping, especially in age where email receipts are falsifiable. But maybe you can buy a small stamp/receipt that exists as a physical verification.
I’m not defending DRM per se; but lifetime guarantees are pretty common in some product lines. why is it not possible with ebooks?