[slightly OT] File protection from copying

[Sam Beard]

Lech,

   What you fail to consider with your argument in favor of torrent
files is that this constitutes theft, particularly when they're
"available on the same day they're screened in the cinema". Theft of
this nature means that the artists involved (actors, screenwriters,
producers, directors, all of the support people involved in making the
movie, etc) don't get any recompense for that particular "purchase" of
the movie. In a barter system, that would be fine. However, the movie
(and book and music and ....) industry doesn't work that way. Without
the incentive of making a living by doing something that you love for
the enjoyment of other people, many people in those industries would no
longer produce the things they love for the enjoyment of the masses.
Some would still produce books, movies, etc, but only for the enjoyment
of a select few people near and dear to them. The system employed by
Apple through iTunes for the distribution of movies is currently the
best that's available. Personally, I would also prefer that the movie be
available for viewing for a longer period of time than 24 hours after
initially beginning to watch it. But at least there's a legal way out
there now whereas before there was only your way. And we won't even
begin to discuss the karmic related aspects of such actions! ;-P

Samuel I. Beard, Jr.
Technical Writer
OI Analytical
979 690-1711 Ext. 222
sbeard at oico.com
 

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+sbeard=oico.com at lists.techwr-l.com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+sbeard=oico.com at lists.techwr-l.com] On Behalf
Of Lech Rzedzicki
Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2008 6:47 AM
To: Lev Abramov
Cc: techwr-l at lists.techwr-l.com
Subject: Re: [slightly OT] File protection from copying

Unfortunately, yes you are being naive - there's always a way.

On top of that you alienate and make it difficult for the very users
that are paying you money, whereas a 'pirate' will make his own DRM
-free copy.

Compare the usage of a typical XVID from a torrent website vs Apple
Movie rental:

You download a 700MB high quality file for free, watch it whenever you
want, keep for however long you want, download in any country, store
on on disk, stream to the other computer, it all works. The movies are
available on the sam day they're screened in cinemas.

versus

Pay $5 or so dollars for the movie, pay for AppleTV, pay for more
bandwith needed,press play, it doesn't work because your HDMI doesn't
recognize this a s legitimate, manage to to go around it by removing
all your films from Amazon, pres play, then you have to go to bed and
after 24hrs it disappears and you have to buy it again. The movies are
available about a year from cinema premiere. That is assuming that you
live in US, because it doesn't work anywhere else.

And that's the best online movie rental service there is so far.

So sorry for the off-topic rant, but why on earth would anyone want to
do the latter?

Now apply this to your PDF scenario and think if your potential users
really need to go through this.

Lech


On Jan 25, 2008 8:59 AM, Lev Abramov <lev.abramov at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi All
>
> A friend has just completed writing a book which he wants to market
online
> as an e-book. He's looking for a file format which would ensure that
the
> e-book can only be used on one computer and not be circulated freely
in
> violation of copyright.
>
> MP3 files downloaded to an iPod cannot be transferred to another iPod.
>
> Is there any tool that would protect a text-based document in a
similar
> manner?
>
> Am I being naive?
>
> TIA -
>
> Lev
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-- 
Lech Rzedzicki
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats
or 
printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007

Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more.
http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList

True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com

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