[free-sklyarov] The Anti-DMCA Index -- Libraries, Ebooks and the DMCA

[Christopher R. Maden]

At 11:47 13-08-2001, Mark K. Bilbo wrote:
>I still want to knew where anybody gets off putting restrictions of ANY 
>kind on a public domain work.

Let's run through this again:

Adobe allows publishers to explicitly enable or disable certain features.

When Adobe adds a new feature to the Reader, the default is always to 
disable the feature, because the publishers of older books can't have known 
about it.

The "read aloud" feature was one such feature.  If an Adobe eBook doesn't 
explicitly enable "read aloud", then it is disabled.

The preparer of _Alice in Wonderland_ did not explicitly enable the "read 
aloud" feature, either because he was forgetful or because the book 
predated the feature (I forget which).

Therefore, the Reader did not enable the "read aloud" feature - i.e., the 
feature was disabled.

To make things worse, the notice of the disabled feature was very badly 
worded. ("This book can not be read aloud.")

One can certainly argue that Adobe's feature system is aggressively 
controlling, but the whole "read aloud" fiasco is not nearly as nefarious 
as it seemed at first.  Attacking it is setting up a strawman; better, I 
think, to stay focused on the real issues.

-crism
-- 
David Shapiro: You know what you doing.  Free Dmitry!  For great justice.
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