As signs of the times go, this one is rather depressing
There’s something sad – if not perverse — about the fact that the Electronic Frontier Foundation sees a need to publish “Digital Books and Your Rights,” a checklist for those who own or want to purchase an e-reader. I mean I took my kids to the local Barnes & Noble yesterday, left with a handful of children’s titles, and never once stopped to think about the current or future legal implications of that purchase.
Of course, there’s no chance Barnes & Noble will come to my house and snatch the books back, no chance that the books will one day be rendered inoperable, and no chance some future legal edict will force the publishers to redact disputed passages. … At least no chance of which I am aware.
(2010’s 25 Geekiest 25th Anniversaries)
But such is not the case with e-books, as was learned through the great Amazon “1984” fiasco.
From this afternoon’s EFF press release:
Over the last few months, the universe of digital books has expanded dramatically, with products like Amazon’s Kindle, Google Books, Internet Archive’s Text Archive, Barnes and Noble’s Nook, and Apple’s upcoming iPad poised to revolutionize reading. But while this digital books revolution could make books more accessible than ever before, there are lingering questions about the future of reader privacy, consumers’ rights, and potential censorship.
EFF’s checklist outlines eight categories of questions readers should ask as they evaluate new digital book products and services, including:
Does the service protect your privacy by limiting tracking of you and your reading?
When you pay for a book, do you own the book, or do you just rent or license it?
Is the service censorship resistant?
You can read EFF’s complete rundown of your digital-book rights here.
