[free-sklyarov] Counter-Terminology

[tom moore]

Whatever terms we decide to use (I prefer something along the lines of "Use
Restricted"), an important point to bring up is that the publishing industry
will be able to (and probably is intending to) change the entire way the
industry works.

Right now, you can go down to your corner book store and buy a paperback
novel for $7.  Once you hand over your money, it's yours to do with asa you
please.  You can read it anywhere you like (on the train, at the beach, in
bed), you can highlight your favorite parts ("Eskimo" - you get extra credit
if you get that reference).  You can give it to a friend, rip out the last
ten pages and give it to an enemy, or let your dog eat it to give him more
fiber in his diet (this has actually been one of my unintended uses of
several of my books).

The DMCA is set up so that your $7 will instead give you the right to read
the book.  It may give you the right to read it several times over a three
month period, or the right to read it once, or unlimited reads on a single
machine.  You will not have the right to do anything else with the book,
because it will not be yours.  Forget about building bookshelves of old
favorites.  Forget about reading The Lord of the Rings or Dune every couple
of years.  Forget about discovering a brilliant new author and sharing the
book with friends.  The publishers may permit you to do it, or not,
according to the stragegies they feel would bring in the most money.

I think that *this* is something the American people will understand.  This
is taking something that everyone knows and loves (at least, the ones who
read) and showing what exactly is going to happen to it.