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

[Jeanne A. E. DeVoto]

At 11:57 AM -0700 8/13/2001, Christopher R. Maden wrote:
>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).
>[...]
>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.


While what you say is true, I do think there are issues in that incident
that are relevant here.

Just as one example, as far as I can tell, if I were to write and put up on
the web a program to re-enable or "fix" that feature, so that people could
have the computer read Alice in Wonderland to them, I'd face potential
criminal liability under the DMCA. This is, surely, a worthy illustration
of just how crazed the DMCA is.

--
jeanne a. e. devoto ~ jaed at jaedworks.com
http://www.jaedworks.com