A simple and effective way to protest DRM
If you don’t like DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), there are lots of ways to protest it. One of the simplest and most effective is to pick a massively popular DRM’ed device, and express your dismay to the manufacturer and users. Here’s an idea:
- Browse to the DRM-laden Amazon Kindle’s product page.
- Look for reviews that mention the problems with its DRM.
- Mark them as helpful.
Here is a selection of such reviews, in which the reviewers rightly protest the restrictions, even though some of them are not really educated about DRM per se:
Having invested HEAVILY in Amazon Kindle content, I looked forward to the new and improved version… I have a tremendous volume of Kindle content (public domain and Amazon). I discovered that I could not directly transfer from my computer backup for Kindle 1 to the new K2 (why my backup is on the computer is addressed later in this review). All my content had to be reformatted by Amazon and re-downloaded from their site specifically for and to the Kindle 2… All of my previous issues of magazines and newspapers were lost
Another one:
after 13 months the screen on my Kindle simply died.. when I spoke with Amazon customer service they confirmed that it’s a fairly common complaint… there is nothing I can do other than buy a new one… there are books that I have purchased that I now can’t read, and Amazon won’t even refund me my money for those!
This person is pretty clear on what’s wrong, even if he/she doesn’t call it DRM:
If your Kindle 1 breaks or you purchase a Kindle 2 all your Newspaper and Magazine issues will be UNREADABLE on the replacement or new device… Think about this for a moment. You BUY these periodicals and obtain the rights for your use, but if you purchase or replace your Kindle you have no further rights to read past issues YOU bought and paid for. .
Even people who are giving it 5 stars are noticing:
…e) Not allowing to display normal PDF documents unless sent to Amazon for turning it into Kindle format.
Last year I attended a talk given by an upper-level guy from Amazon. There was a box of free t-shirts advertising their DRM-free music store, so I asked about the Kindle. I recall him saying that they’d like to get rid of the DRM on the books, but that “the publishing industry is far more skittish about piracy than the music industry, if you can imagine that.” I imagine the profit margins are slimmer.
This doesn’t change the problems with the Kindle, but it does put some things into perspective.
Tim McCormack
12 Jul 09 at 10:50 pm
While I agree with your position about DRM, the last example is specious. The Kindle 1 & 2 only support PDF via conversion and re-flowing to fit their screen, not because of anything DRM related but because they don’t natively support the format.
The Kindle DX, which does natively support PDF, accepts any old PDF just fine.
Mark Imbriaco
12 Jul 09 at 11:19 pm
Mark, thanks for correcting me. On the other hand the lack of PDF support might be an argument for Free Software e-book readers, though I’m not sure how well a PDF would render on the Kindle’s screen.
Xaprb
13 Jul 09 at 5:56 am
Tim, thanks for commenting. I am curious why that would be. Maybe they simply haven’t been hit as badly by it, too. My publisher sends takedown notices for sites offering free downloads of my book, but after a while it got so popular I quit bothering to send them links; these sites are all fly-by-night anyway. I kind of accept that there’s no way to stop it.
Xaprb
13 Jul 09 at 5:59 am
Tim: about putting things into perspective, I’m sure the deluge of critical reviews since the Animal Farm and 1984 incidents has given Amazon a whole new perspective! If you sort reviews by newest-first, it’s practically nothing but an anti-DRM campaign. It seems the masses are beginning to realize what DRM is.
Xaprb
25 Jul 09 at 10:24 am
Yeah, I find it kind of hilarious that people are so up-in-arms about it. What did they expect?
Then I remember that not every consumer is steeped in the anti-DRM rants, and are going to be totally blindsided.
Tim McCormack
27 Jul 09 at 11:56 pm