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posted by LaminatorX on Monday December 15 2014, @07:58AM   Printer-friendly
from the another-brick-out-of-the-wall dept.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports

Telling users how to strip the [Debilitating Restrictions Mechanisms] from their legally purchased ebooks is not contributory copyright infringement, according to a ruling last month by [federal judge Denise Cote.]

[...]Abbey House Media operated an ebook store for the publishers Penguin and Simon & Schuster from 2010, and was contractually obligated to wrap the ebooks sold in that store with DRM. When Abbey House shut down the ebook store in 2013, it gave its customers a month's notice that they would no longer be able to add new devices to read their purchased books on--and explained that some customers were using the free software package Calibre to remove the DRM so they would be able to move their library to new hardware.

[...]Penguin and Simon & Schuster argued that, by making that announcement and pointing to a specific piece of software, Abbey House was engaging in contributory infringement and inducing people to infringe.

[...]Judge Cote dismissed the inducement claim by noting that the uses Abbey House was enabling--personal backup and device transfers--were non-infringing.

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  • (Score: 2) by davester666 on Monday December 15 2014, @09:36AM

    by davester666 (155) on Monday December 15 2014, @09:36AM (#126116)

    Clearly this judge is delusional. Because Calibre has no mechanism to determine/control what happens to the file once the DRM has been removed, somebody somewhere has, at least once, used it to remove the DRM from a ebook and then that terrorist shared that DRM-free ebook with millions of criminals. And then sent $10 to ISIS to further the cause.

    Obviously, all users of Calibre must be renditioned to Pakistan/Afghanistan/whateverstan and their loyalty questioned by the CIA.

    • (Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Monday December 15 2014, @06:04PM

      by hendrikboom (1125) Subscriber Badge on Monday December 15 2014, @06:04PM (#126238) Homepage Journal

      The judge *approved* decrypting the books.

      And in any case, calibre by itself does not decrypt anything. With the proper plugins and decryption key, it will enable you to *read* a DRM'd book. But it doesn't give you a decrypted file.

      • (Score: 2) by frojack on Monday December 15 2014, @06:57PM

        by frojack (1554) on Monday December 15 2014, @06:57PM (#126258) Journal

        There are (third party) plugins for Caliber that do indeed remove DRM.
        Once the DRM is removed, you can read your ebooks on any device, convert them to other formats, etc)

        Every one of my purchased ebooks go through these plugins on the way into my Calibre library.

        (Calibre (David Kovid) has nothing to do with these plugins. They were written by third parties using the standard Calibre plug in facility. You still need a key to import the book the first time, but from then on the DRM is gone.)

        --
        No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
      • (Score: 2) by caseih on Tuesday December 16 2014, @04:51AM

        by caseih (2744) on Tuesday December 16 2014, @04:51AM (#126415)

        Funny that you completely misread the parent post. Both missing the literal point as well as the humor.

        • (Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Tuesday December 30 2014, @08:42PM

          by hendrikboom (1125) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday December 30 2014, @08:42PM (#130316) Homepage Journal

          Yes, yes, indeed. I missed the humour. Now that you point out it's there, I see it and laugh.

          -- hendrik

      • (Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Tuesday December 16 2014, @06:40PM

        by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Tuesday December 16 2014, @06:40PM (#126576) Journal

        I don't think that would really matter in this case because IIRC the DMCA has always had a clause exempting interoperability (such as making a copy for backup) and in this case the company simply no longer exists. I think we'll be seeing more of this, especially with games, as the first gen companies go under leaving the users no choice but to crack it simply to be able to use the product they paid for. Take GFWL for an example, if you have one of the 2 dozen or so games that were never patched to remove GFWL then the only way for you to actually play the game you bought would be to bypass the GFWL DRM.

        --
        ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 20 2014, @08:01PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 20 2014, @08:01PM (#127808)

        Whoosh.......

  • (Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Monday December 15 2014, @09:37AM

    by bzipitidoo (4388) on Monday December 15 2014, @09:37AM (#126117) Journal

    Nice. So when will Penguin and Simon & Schuster and all these other pushers of DRM schemes that are guaranteed to lock everyone out of everything the moment their servers go silent face a class action lawsuit for causing losses to their customers? Or will we have to rely on magic market forces to punish them for their anti-social schemes? Admittedly, this particular DRM scheme doesn't sound quite that bad, but to lose all your purchases the moment your final remaining authorized device stops functioning (and they are fragile-- only takes one butterfinger moment over a hard floor, or one dunking) is still crappy.

    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by davester666 on Monday December 15 2014, @09:41AM

      by davester666 (155) on Monday December 15 2014, @09:41AM (#126118)

      What class action lawsuit? The license agreement you agreed to when you licensed the ebook clearly stated somewhere towards the middle-end of about 30-40 pages of text that you may lose access to the ebook at any time, and that you have no recourse should you be unable to access the contents of the ebook.

      And you haven't "purchased" anything. Therefore the 1st-sale doctrine doesn't apply, either.

      This is the best the free-market can do. If you want something better, you need to pay more.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 15 2014, @11:32AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 15 2014, @11:32AM (#126127)

        I simply hate how right you are, but you are right.

      • (Score: 5, Informative) by Sir Garlon on Monday December 15 2014, @01:22PM

        by Sir Garlon (1264) on Monday December 15 2014, @01:22PM (#126140)

        And you haven't "purchased" anything. Therefore the 1st-sale doctrine doesn't apply, either.

        This is why I tell Simon to shove his ereader up his Schuster, and I buy dead-tree books instead. When they stop making those, I guess I'll have to get my reading material from an antique shop.

        --
        [Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
        • (Score: 2) by CRCulver on Monday December 15 2014, @04:09PM

          by CRCulver (4390) on Monday December 15 2014, @04:09PM (#126177) Homepage

          This is why I tell Simon to shove his ereader up his Schuster, and I buy dead-tree books instead. When they stop making those, I guess I'll have to get my reading material from an antique shop.

          I can understand you wanting to buy dead-tree books so that the author gets royalties, but once they stop making those, why pay for something from an antique shop instead of just getting a pirated ebook? Publisher DRM is strippable, downloading these ebooks without payment is trivial.

          • (Score: 3, Informative) by Sir Garlon on Monday December 15 2014, @04:39PM

            by Sir Garlon (1264) on Monday December 15 2014, @04:39PM (#126195)

            Five years in prison, $250,000 fine, or both. Sure, the chance of getting caught are tiny, but with the consequences being I lose my house and career, it ain't worth it just for the chance to thumb my nose at The Man.

            --
            [Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
            • (Score: 2) by CRCulver on Monday December 15 2014, @05:50PM

              by CRCulver (4390) on Monday December 15 2014, @05:50PM (#126230) Homepage
              Filesharing lawsuits and prosection are against people who upload content to other users (or who offer that content for upload), not people who simply download what a pirate has made available. Bittorrent isn't the only source of pirated ebooks. They are often put on respectable filehosting services like depositfiles where anyone can download them without fear.
            • (Score: 3, Insightful) by wantkitteh on Monday December 15 2014, @09:50PM

              by wantkitteh (3362) on Monday December 15 2014, @09:50PM (#126321) Homepage Journal

              I do feel sorry for you. That's a huge penalty for something as reasonably expectable as format-shifting something you have a moral right to access legitimately.

              Laws are decades behind the tech on this one - over the summer, the UK passed laws to allow format-shifting of media unencumbered by DRM. The result is that ripping your own CDs to MP3 is finally legal, but breaking/bypassing/removing DRM is still illegal so decrypting and ripping DVDs (no matter how pathetically weak the crypto has been since it's inception) to build an online library of your own stuff is still illegal.

              Of course, last time I checked, books don't have DRM.

            • (Score: 1) by Anal Pumpernickel on Tuesday December 16 2014, @02:15AM

              by Anal Pumpernickel (776) on Tuesday December 16 2014, @02:15AM (#126377)

              You're more likely to get into a car accident, and a car accident can have far worse consequences. Additionally, most of the nonsense about *downloading* happens to a ridiculously small percentage of people; most of the rest of the time, these scumbag companies just send out threatening letters that can be ignored, or you can challenge them to waste their time. They are extremely unlikely to take action, especially now that they have difficulty suing en masse.

        • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Immerman on Monday December 15 2014, @05:47PM

          by Immerman (3985) on Monday December 15 2014, @05:47PM (#126227)

          Agreed. Though that doesn't render e-readers altogether useless - mine hosts an ever-expanding library of classic literature, from Shakespeare to Edgar Rice Burroughs, courtesy of Project Gutenberg. Not to mention an assortment of newer stuff from those many mostly-niche publishers who respect their customers enough to sell DRM-free e-books.

          It is nice to have several bookshelves worth of books neatly squeezed into a single thin device (with redundant backups of course) - it has allowed my library to continue to grow even as I slash the piles of books whose storage and transportation costs (financial and otherwise) have exceeded their incremental value.

          Still looking for a grade-A second-hand e-book store, but I'm not holding my breath. With nigh-infinitely compact bookshelves there's little reason for readers to ever purge their libraries to line the treasure-filled shelves of a second hand store.

        • (Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Tuesday December 16 2014, @04:19AM

          by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Tuesday December 16 2014, @04:19AM (#126404) Journal

          So you are for fucking the authors then? Cause I hate to break it to ya but the publishing racket is just as nasty as the record companies, we're talking Hollywood accounting [wikipedia.org] to the fiftieth power here. So I an understand why more and more authors are going with things like the Kindle, as they have been getting buttfucked worse than the bands have been when it comes to actually getting paid.

          --
          ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
        • (Score: 2) by jbWolf on Thursday December 18 2014, @05:09AM

          by jbWolf (2774) <jbNO@SPAMjb-wolf.com> on Thursday December 18 2014, @05:09AM (#127082) Homepage

          When they stop making those, I guess I'll have to get my reading material from an antique shop.

          Not necessarily. There are those of us who are authors and don't want DRM on the material we write. We may not be mainstream, but we exists.

          --
          www.jb-wolf.com [jb-wolf.com]
      • (Score: 2) by nyder on Monday December 15 2014, @02:17PM

        by nyder (4525) on Monday December 15 2014, @02:17PM (#126152)

        Actually I don't have to pay more, I can just download the ebook, with DRM removed for free. If publisher want to be stupid and sell me a limited version of their book that I do not have control over, when I can get one for free and have full control over it? Yes, I'm going to get it for free.

        No where is it stated that companies have a right to profit, and if they think that trying to give me a crappier version for money then what I can get for free, they are really fucking stupid.

      • (Score: 2) by digitalaudiorock on Monday December 15 2014, @02:35PM

        by digitalaudiorock (688) on Monday December 15 2014, @02:35PM (#126155) Journal

        What class action lawsuit? The license agreement you agreed to when you licensed the ebook clearly stated somewhere towards the middle-end of about 30-40 pages of text that you may lose access to the ebook at any time, and that you have no recourse should you be unable to access the contents of the ebook.

        ...and somewhere after that, it likely said outright that you agree to never participate in a class action lawsuit. I wish I was kidding, but these days that's pretty likely.

        • (Score: 3, Informative) by Sir Garlon on Monday December 15 2014, @02:59PM

          by Sir Garlon (1264) on Monday December 15 2014, @02:59PM (#126159)

          ...and somewhere after that, it likely said outright that you agree to never participate in a class action lawsuit.

          This is often phrased using the code words "binding arbitration." They're asking me to sign away my right under the seventh amendment to the U.S. Constitution [wikipedia.org]? Fuck that noise. A better argument against clicking "I agree" would be hard to construct.

          According to my layman's definition of the word "justice," courts should not be able to enforce such a clause (because if the court says you can't settle your dispute by jury trial, that looks to me like a direct violation of the Seventh Amendment). I am sure highly-paid corporate lawyers have successfully argued against my position, though.

          --
          [Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
          • (Score: 2) by ilPapa on Monday December 15 2014, @03:39PM

            by ilPapa (2366) on Monday December 15 2014, @03:39PM (#126170) Journal

            Fuck that noise. A better argument against clicking "I agree" would be hard to construct.

            So do what I do: I click "I Agree" but I have my fingers crossed behind my back.

            Seriously. I give all appropriate respect to a user agreement that tells me I didn't really buy what I just bought and also, by the way, I don't have any rights. I've got my rights hanging right here, Simon and Schuster.

            --
            You are still welcome on my lawn.
      • (Score: 2) by Wootery on Monday December 15 2014, @04:11PM

        by Wootery (2341) on Monday December 15 2014, @04:11PM (#126179)

        If you want something better, you need to pay more.

        You mean the treeware?

        You're wrong to imply one always has the choice to pay more to get the product without DRM (which one sometimes can do, e.g. paying more for a video-game from gog.com).

        • (Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Tuesday December 16 2014, @06:54PM

          by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Tuesday December 16 2014, @06:54PM (#126578) Journal

          Sadly while I support GOG for old DOS games (gotten plenty of them from GOG over the years, Blood, Duke 3D and Redneck rampage FTW!) or for games where you'll never care about the MP for games where you actually might want to play the MP? Steam is better in every way. I know they are trying to set up their own MP service (been beta testing it with AVP 2K AAMOF) but its nowhere near as good as Steam, no easy matchmaking with friends, no easy to use integrated in game chat, its just not as good.

          --
          ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
          • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday December 16 2014, @11:13PM

            by Freeman (732) on Tuesday December 16 2014, @11:13PM (#126659) Journal

            Steam Matchmaking has it's ups and downs as well. It's by no means a perfect system. Hopefully GOG does come up with a good MP system. It would be extremely awesome, if they were able to make Multiplayer for some older games viable.

            --
            Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
            • (Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Wednesday December 17 2014, @03:02AM

              by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Wednesday December 17 2014, @03:02AM (#126711) Journal

              Such as? I have been playing MP games with my 2 boys, one who lives across town and the other on a completely different ISP and its always been as simple as "Wanna play? Sure" /launch game, choose MP or co-op/ get smacked by guys with reflexes 20 plus years better than mine/ in fact the only times I can think of us having problems was with games that bolted extra shit on top, be it Rockstar and their social shit, 2K with their GFWL (thank FSM that shit was removed, plays MUCH better now) or gearbox with the gamespy crap. AAMOF the games that strictly use Steam? Fastest from click to MP I've ever seen and if Steam works then MP works, no hunting down weird connection issues.

              And as I said I'm beta testing the new GOG Galaxy MP service and...meh, its just a big old pile of meh. The only thing it really improves over the old days of server IP lists is the hooking up through a router and getting the initial list, everything else is a throwback to the bad old days, serious lag, not being able to tell which servers have the bandwidth to keep from crawling, slow to refresh lists, you ever play MP in 2003? Well there ya go, that is what its like, its like going back in time 11 years to the early days of MP.

              --
              ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
              • (Score: 2) by Wootery on Thursday December 18 2014, @12:23AM

                by Wootery (2341) on Thursday December 18 2014, @12:23AM (#127038)

                its just a big old pile of meh

                I'd be cautiously optimistic. Steam took a long time to mature from the festering heap that it was in the early days.

                UPlay, too, seems to have become a lot less awful with time.

                I admit I'm conflating multiplayer matching systems with download/DRM systems, but it seems these things take time.

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by Freeman on Monday December 15 2014, @04:57PM

        by Freeman (732) on Monday December 15 2014, @04:57PM (#126206) Journal

        Tor sells DRM-Free E-books. :-) http://www.tor.com/blogs/2012/07/torforge-e-books-are-now-drm-free/ [tor.com] I didn't really start buying e-books until I saw this and now I own the entire Wheel of Time set of e-books. I also use Nook E-Readers, because it's easy to load Project Gutenberg books onto it as well. http://www.gutenberg.org/ [gutenberg.org] Barnes and Noble E-Readers are much better for Books and loading of free E-books than the Apple Like Amazon E-Readers.

        --
        Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by FatPhil on Monday December 15 2014, @09:48AM

    by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Monday December 15 2014, @09:48AM (#126120) Homepage
    A more important matter is whether there should be a law forbidding "contributory infringement" which is basically little more than free (constitutionally supported) exchange of information in the first place. Dave Touretsky and his DeCSS gallery clearly think otherwise, as do the EFF. So this is only a small victory, but surely it's better to weed out the broken laws that are at the root of the problem.
    --
    Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 15 2014, @11:27AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 15 2014, @11:27AM (#126126)

    I prefer to call it DRM, doesn't really matter.

  • (Score: 5, Funny) by Thexalon on Monday December 15 2014, @01:32PM

    by Thexalon (636) on Monday December 15 2014, @01:32PM (#126142)

    To avoid accidentally disabling the DRM on most Acme software, please follow these rules:
    1. DO NOT remove bytes 0-53 from the binary.
    2. DO NOT then alter the configuration file to think that sony.com is localhost.
    3. DO NOT twiddle byte 57 from 0xF8 to 0xF4.
    ...

    --
    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
    • (Score: 2) by francois.barbier on Monday December 15 2014, @05:52PM

      by francois.barbier (651) on Monday December 15 2014, @05:52PM (#126231)
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 16 2014, @06:04PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 16 2014, @06:04PM (#126559)

      Alternatively, write a story about someone who removes DRM, describing in detail how he does it. Since it is literary fiction, it cannot be contributory copyright infringement, can it?

      If necessary, add a disclaimer: "The actions described in this book are completely fictional. Any similarities to methods to disable real DRM schemes would be purely coincidental."

      • (Score: 1) by Jiro on Wednesday December 17 2014, @03:44AM

        by Jiro (3176) on Wednesday December 17 2014, @03:44AM (#126727)

        Courts are not stupid. If you try that, the judge will say "you're obviously telling people how to remove DRM, even if you aren't using the words 'I am telling you how to remove DRM'."

  • (Score: 2) by pixeldyne on Monday December 15 2014, @10:59PM

    by pixeldyne (2637) on Monday December 15 2014, @10:59PM (#126338)

    Not sure if I get it, the article says 'district court', not federal. District of the federation?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 15 2014, @11:47PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 15 2014, @11:47PM (#126348)

      If you have a nit to pick about a federal matter, you take that to a federal *district* court.
      If you aren't happy with the outcome, you can take that to a federal *appeals* court (the highest of those eventually being SCOTUS).

      -- gewg_