CVSROOT: /web/www Module name: www Changes by: Jason Self <jxself> 11/07/07 04:54:43
Modified files: philosophy : philosophy.html Added files: philosophy : the-danger-of-ebooks.html Log message: Adding new philosophy article from RMS, RT # 697619 CVSWeb URLs: http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/philosophy.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.328&r2=1.329 http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/the-danger-of-ebooks.html?cvsroot=www&rev=1.1 Patches: Index: philosophy.html =================================================================== RCS file: /web/www/www/philosophy/philosophy.html,v retrieving revision 1.328 retrieving revision 1.329 diff -u -b -r1.328 -r1.329 --- philosophy.html 8 May 2011 17:52:53 -0000 1.328 +++ philosophy.html 7 Jul 2011 04:54:05 -0000 1.329 @@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ <p>Hot off the presses, here are the latest published articles on free software and the GNU project.</p> <ul> + <li><a href="/philosophy/the-dangers-of-ebooks.html">The Dangers of E-Books</a></li> <li><a href="/philosophy/practical.html">The advantages of free software</a></li> <li><a href="/philosophy/assigning-copyright.html">When a Company Asks For Your Copyright</a></li> @@ -135,7 +136,7 @@ <p> Updated: <!-- timestamp start --> -$Date: 2011/05/08 17:52:53 $ +$Date: 2011/07/07 04:54:05 $ <!-- timestamp end --> </p> </div> Index: the-danger-of-ebooks.html =================================================================== RCS file: the-danger-of-ebooks.html diff -N the-danger-of-ebooks.html --- /dev/null 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 -0000 +++ the-danger-of-ebooks.html 7 Jul 2011 04:54:05 -0000 1.1 @@ -0,0 +1,159 @@ +<!-- Parent-Version: $Revision: 1.1 $ --> + +<!-- This is the template document for GNU web pages. We use + server side includes (#include) for common elements, for + instance, the very first line of the file. If you're reading + this in its expanded form, you can retrieve the original source, + with the SSI statements intact, from + http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/*checkout*/www/server/standards/boilerplate.html?root=www&content-type=text%2Fplain +--> + +<!-- Instructions for adapting this boilerplate to a new project: --> + +<!-- 1. In the line above starting "Parent-Version:", remove the + "$Revision...$" from around the revision number, + leaving just Parent-Version: and the number. --> + +<!-- 2. Replace "baz" with the name of your project. + You should be able to do this with search and replace; + making sure that the search is case insensitive and + that the case of the replacement matches the case + of the string found. In Emacs, query-replace will do this + when case-fold-search and case-replace are both non-nil + and both search and replacement string are given in lower case. --> + +<!-- 3. Of course update the actual information according to your project, + such as mailing lists, project locations, and maintainer name. --> + +<!-- 4. You can use the patch-from-parent script to semi-automate + merging future changes to the boilerplate with your file: + http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/*checkout*/www/server/standards/patch-from-parent?root=www&content-type=text%2Fplain +--> + +<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" --> +<title>The Danger of E-Books +- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> +<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> +<h2>The Danger of E-Books</h2> + +<p>In an age where business dominates our governments and writes our laws, +every technological advance offers business an opportunity to impose new +restrictions on the public. Technologies that could have empowered us are +used to chain us instead.</p> + +<p>With printed books,</p> +<ul> +<li>You can buy one with cash, anonymously.</li> +<li>Then you own it.</li> +<li>You are not required to sign a license that restricts your use of it.</li> +<li>The format is known, and no proprietary technology is needed to read the +book.</li> +<li>You can give, lend or sell the book to another.</li> +<li>You can, physically, scan and copy the book, and it's sometimes lawful +under copyright.</li> +<li>Nobody has the power to destroy your book.</li> +</ul> + +<p>Contrast that with Amazon e-books (fairly typical): +<ul> +<li>Amazon requires users to identify themselves to get an e-book.</li> +<li>In some countries, Amazon says the user does not own the e-book.</li> +<li>Amazon requires the user to accept a restrictive license on use of the +e-book.</li> +<li>The format is secret, and only proprietary user-restricting software can +read it at all. +<li>An ersatz "lending" is allowed for some books, for a limited time, but +only by specifying by name another user of the same system. No giving or +selling.</li> +<li>To copy the e-book is impossible due to +<a href="/philosophy/right-to-read.html">Digital Restrictions Management</a> +in the player and prohibited by the license, which is more restrictive than +copyright law.</li> +<li>Amazon can remotely delete the e-book using a back door. It used this +back door in 2009 to delete thousands of copies of George Orwell's 1984.</li> +</ul> + +<p>Even one of these infringements makes e-books a step backward from +printed books. We must reject e-books until they respect our freedom.</p> + +<p>The e-book companies say denying our traditional freedoms is necessary to +continue to pay authors. The current copyright system does a lousy job of +that; it is much better suited to supporting those companies. We can support +authors better in other ways that don't require curtailing our freedom, and +even legalize sharing. Two methods I've suggested are:</p> + +<ul> +<li>To distribute tax funds to authors based on the cube root of each +author's popularity. See +<a href="http://stallman.org/articles/internet-sharing-license.en.html"> +http://stallman.org/articles/internet-sharing-license.en.html</a>.</li> +<li>To design players so users can send authors anonymous voluntary payments.</li> + +<p>E-books need not attack our freedom, but they will if companies get to +decide. It's up to us to stop them. The fight has already started.</p> + +<!-- If needed, change the copyright block at the bottom. In general, + all pages on the GNU web server should have the section about + verbatim copying. Please do NOT remove this without talking + with the webmasters first. + Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the document + and that it is like this: "2001, 2002", not this: "2001-2002". --> +</div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> +<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> +<div id="footer"> + +<p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to +<a href="mailto:g...@gnu.org"><g...@gnu.org></a>. +There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> +the FSF.<br /> +Please send broken links and other corrections or suggestions to +<a href="mailto:webmast...@gnu.org"><webmast...@gnu.org></a>.</p> + +<p>Please see the <a +href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations +README</a> for information on coordinating and submitting translations +of this article.</p> + +<p>Copyright © 2011 Richard Stallman</p> + +<p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" +href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/us/">Creative +Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License</a>.</p> + +<p>Updated: +<!-- timestamp start --> +$Date: 2011/07/07 04:54:05 $ +<!-- timestamp end --> +</p> +</div> + +<div id="translations"> +<h4>Translations of this page</h4> + +<!-- Please keep this list alphabetical by language code. + Comment what the language is for each type, i.e. de is German. + Write the language name in its own language (Deutsch) in the text. + If you add a new language here, please + advise web-translat...@gnu.org and add it to + - /home/www/html/server/standards/README.translations.html + - one of the lists under the section "Translations Underway" + - if there is a translation team, you also have to add an alias + to mail.gnu.org:/com/mailer/aliases + Please also check you have the language code right; see: + http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/code_list.php + If the 2-letter ISO 639-1 code is not available, + use the 3-letter ISO 639-2. + Please use W3C normative character entities. + + See also '(web-trans)Capitalization': + http://gnu.org/software/trans-coord/manual/web-trans/html_node/Capitalization.html + --> + +<ul class="translations-list"> +<!-- English --> +<li><a href="/philosophy/the-danger-of-ebooks.html">English</a> [en]</li> +</ul> +</div> +</div> +</body> +</html>