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You Can Remove DRM From Your Digital Books, but It's Probably Illegal (lifehacker.com)

submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by Yingwu@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

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Title from the article. Interesting article, with some good words from our DRM-free favorite Cory Doctorow.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/40754848

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[-] MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml 39 points 3 days ago

Illegal = against capital interests

[-] Spider89@lemm.ee 60 points 4 days ago

[-] DieserTypMatthias@lemmy.ml 9 points 4 days ago

Or just unlock protected media outside from States.

[-] smiletolerantly@awful.systems 2 points 3 days ago

I have been listening to SO many audiobooks since getting Audiobookshelve ❤️

[-] dutchcompass@lemm.ee 2 points 2 days ago

Libro.fm is cool too because you can download and just…own the files

[-] Grimpen@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 days ago

Always comes to mind. Why buy it if you need to crack the DRM someday and become a criminal? Just pirate it in the first place.

[-] ABetterTomorrow@lemm.ee 29 points 3 days ago

If purchased, fuck you, mine not yours.

[-] lka1988@sh.itjust.works 131 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Removing DRM has always been "illegal".

However: German concentration camps were legal, while families protecting Jewish citizens from being taken to said concentration camps was strictly illegal.

What's legal is not always right (ethically and morally), and what's right is not always legal. Remember that.

[-] laserjet@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 11 hours ago

extremely self aggrandizing analogy to say the least

[-] Yingwu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 51 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I'd like to clarify that removing DRM does lie in a grey zone in many countries, including in the US due to some court rulings. In some countries the right to make a backup of your e-book might have priority over copyright law for example.

[-] lka1988@sh.itjust.works 26 points 4 days ago

Sure, but companies who employ DRM have argued against that grey area since DRM was a thing. Something something IP/copyright/licensing/whatever bullshit... IMO: fuck you, I bought it, I own it, eat shit.

[-] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 10 points 4 days ago

Correct... How are they going to enforce their "property" rights when I do it at home?

These corpo parasites are delulu hence why I stopped spending money on media.

Get fucked.

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[-] cecilkorik@lemmy.ca 18 points 4 days ago

Sometimes doing something illegal is anti-social behavior. Sometimes it's anti-authoritarian behavior. These are not the same thing.

[-] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 48 points 4 days ago

"Illegal"

Fuck them... Just do it.

[-] Railcar8095@lemm.ee 44 points 4 days ago

From a legal standpoint, is it more illegal to remove DRM or to just download DRM-freed content?

Meta lawyers think the second is fine, BTW.

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[-] miracleorange@beehaw.org 28 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Just in case anyone didn't feel like reading the article, here's the last (and imo most important) paragraph:

However, without changing the DMCA, we can't expect to see real, lasting change in this space. Doctorow said as much to me: "What we really need to do is get rid of DMCA 1201, that law that makes it a crime to format shift your media...it's the same law that stops farmers from fixing their tractors, blocks independent mechanics from fixing your car, stops rivals from setting up alternative app stores for phones and games consoles...this law is a menace!"

[-] chahk@beehaw.org 12 points 4 days ago

Good guy Meta. Fighting for us little guys, downloading terabytes of books, defending against lawsuits. Maybe they'll overturn DMCA?

[-] orcrist@lemm.ee 13 points 3 days ago

It's interesting when people are put to the choice. On the one hand they could purchase a book with DRM that they don't actually own. On the other hand, they could look for alternative means by which to obtain the book. And the more the publishers f*** with you, the more you might be inclined to never give them a penny.

[-] baggachipz@sh.itjust.works 7 points 3 days ago

You can swear on the internet, your mom isn’t watching.

[-] TimmyMac@lemmy.ml 25 points 4 days ago

If that's true, I'm pretty much Al Capone at this point.

[-] metaStatic@kbin.earth 27 points 4 days ago

Never forget it's legal to make backups.

[-] ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.org 13 points 4 days ago

Unless you "bypass technological measures". Which is a loophole if I've ever seen one.

[-] psud@aussie.zone 10 points 4 days ago

I luckily live in a country where I may break copy protection if it is to move the content into a format where I can use it as I prefer

Eg I could (and did) legally break copy protection on DVDs to allow me to watch them on my Linux computer

[-] neshura@bookwormstory.social 6 points 4 days ago

Over here you can even make copies for personal use or sharing with a close group of friends.

I love the unintended consequences of declaring that the internet is to be treated under the same laws as radio broadcasts. Suddenly being allowed to make a recorded copy of anything as long as you yourself create the copy becomes significantly more important.

[-] cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 23 points 4 days ago

jaywalking is probably illegal too

[-] neshura@bookwormstory.social 5 points 4 days ago

I will never stop being confused by this law. Just crossing the street cannot possibly be illegal anywhere. I'm fully convinced the entire thing is an elaborate joke by the americans.

[-] baggachipz@sh.itjust.works 7 points 3 days ago

Like everything else here in the US, it’s borne out of racism. In the Jim Crow era, most black people couldn’t afford a car. White people driving around didn’t like those pesky walking people getting in their way, so they made it difficult to cross the street. It then gave cops a way to threaten/arrest/persecute them.

[-] Draconic_NEO@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 4 days ago

And the name is derived from an awful slur too. The history of that is really messed up.

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[-] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 23 points 4 days ago

Fwiw, I've never put drm on anything I've published digitally, and never will.

Not that it matters, nobody buys my shit in the first place lol. But, as a matter of principle, even my crappy stories as a form of culture aren't only for the people with money.

Mind you, that do? I have no beef with. You make your own choices, and I ain't mad about it. But it just isn't something I can do.

[-] neshura@bookwormstory.social 4 points 4 days ago

I go out of my way to exclusively spend money with the one publisher I've found who does not put DRM in their ebooks. I spend lavishly with them because good practices need to be rewarded monetarily in capitalism or they die out.

The rest I pirate.

[-] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 7 points 4 days ago

Doing illegal things is the new black, haven’t you heard?

Also, how exactly would they catch anyone doing this?

[-] orcrist@lemm.ee 4 points 3 days ago

How can they catch people who have produced unlocked epubs? There are plenty of ways if they have your device at some future date.

I suppose the easiest predictable thing other than having your device seized when you're entering the country for example or when you get arrested for example is that back doors could be installed on Android or iPhone that look for unapproved media.

The technology is already good enough for that. It's only a question of implementation.