« video of Clay Shirky @ Web 2.0 Expo | Main | Library Use of E-books study »
May 14, 2008
Call for all libraries to stop supporting digital rights management
DefectiveByDesign.org, a campaign from the Free Software Foundation, protested outside of the Boston Public Library for offering digital content with digital rights management attached to it. They then expanded that complaint to all libraries, asking library users to sign letters and send them to their local libraries. You can view a copy of the letter here.
I applaud their efforts, but the sad reality is that any subscription eContent that any library offers, except for a few select DRM-free Overdrive titles, will have DRM attached to it. I agree with the DBD tagline that "books should not expire," but until there is much more of a push by all end-users, not just those of libraries, I don't see that changing. And libraries will be left with the choice of offering DRM-laden eContent or offering no eContent at all.
May 14, 2008 | Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341c511253ef00e5523d35f18834
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Call for all libraries to stop supporting digital rights management:
Comments
The above comments offer great insights into the whole libraries and DRM issue, but I have a little bit to add, even though I am a public librarian.
Many academic institutions are moving towards a more open standard, which I fully applaud. Harvard Law School is an example in the academic realm that is starting to use CC to open up their materials to a wider public and improve the dissemination of knowledge. But in my humble opinion, academia and the “real” world should not be lumped together.
When discussing DRM and who is pushing it, the finger can not just be pointed at the publishers. Any real discussion must include the authors of the materials. If authors where interested in producing works truly free of any form of DRM, then they would not be sending their works to the publishers in the first place. Why bother? Just type it up in your favorite word processor, attach a CC license to, make it a PDF file and put it online. Done no DRM!
But the reality, as we have all heard before, is that self publishing CC content is not the way to get your books into libraries or make a decent living. The author – publisher relationship is a financial one and is not generally based on altruism. I seriously doubt that you would find one bestselling author today that would have rather been self published into obscurity and the poor house.
Authors need to be monetarily rewarded for their hard work. They to have families to feed and bills to pay just like you and me. To imagine a totally DRM free world is simply unrealistic. Would you go to work tomorrow and every day for the rest of your life for free? I sure wouldn’t.
Posted by: Tim K | May18, 2008
Two things first: One, I am a librarian; two, I agree that DRM is just about the most annoying and insulting thing developed by content publishers.
That being said, getting mad and calling on libraries to drop DRM from e-resources is like picketing outside BestBuy because your videogame or DVD has DRM on it. There is, in all reality, very little that libraries can do to change the situation. I agree that, when given the chance, we should offer as much material without DRM as possible. Libraries generally are on board with this and if you look most libraries will at least link to things like Project Gutenburg somewhere on their website. Our library even uses OpenOffice.org on our workstations (not really DRM, but opensource is in the same vein).
The DBD should be working with libraries and adding our voices together against DRM rather than focusing their energy on telling us what we already know.
Posted by: Mark | May16, 2008
We came to the same conclusion as most other libraries: our users want to download audio copies of bestsellers and those publishers, not OverDrive, are demanding DRM on the files they license. If we only wanted to provide access to public domain material, we could link to LibriVox and the Internet Archive. (Oh yeah. We do.) As Sarah said, we're currently faced with the choice of offering bestselling titles with DRM or not at all. Our response to the original action at the Boston Public Library was posted on many blogs, but you can read it on ours if you missed it:
http://dbinfo.bpl.org/dbblog/?p=60
Note also that OverDrive will soon be licensing thousands of titles *without* DRM, so I think that they are in the same position as we are -- i.e., stuck in the middle. I did point this out to the Defective By Design guys and they did seem encouraged by the news. I have yet to see *them* mention it in any press, however.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6547062.html
Posted by: Scot Colford | May15, 2008
Jeff, I can try to answer your questions as a librarian in a public library. Who are we contracting with? Overdrive, NetLibrary, and ProQuest (or some sub-set thereof) for most public libraries. We do lobby them for more open content, and Overdrive has started that with selected publishers (the publishers decide if they want to participate). And therein lies the problem. From the publishers' perspective, there is a reason to restrict access. In their minds, if the books are open people will just make endless copies of them and no one will buy their books, thus, they will go out of business. And the eBook companies like Overdrive, NetLibrary, and ProQuest need the publishers to get content for their own products. Basically, the publishers get to call the shots. DRM or no DRM. Printing or no printing or limited printing. Copying and pasting or no copying and pasting. On and on. The libraries can lobby the vendors 'til our eyes bug out of our heads, and we can lobby the publishers, but until the publishers agree to open up their content (and the authors would likely have to sign on for that too), then we're stuck where we're at. Simplifying DRM and making it all cross-platform compatible is a good first step, but I do believe ultimately DRM will fade away. But it's like learning life's lessons. You have to learn it yourself--your parents can't tell you, your friend can't tell you. In this case, the publishers have to learn for themselves--we can't force them to see that reality until they're ready to.
Posted by: Sarah Houghton-Jan (LiB) | May14, 2008
The letter is a start. We need to change the conversation. Instead of just saying, STOP DRM, we should say, Overdrive STOP DRM. Who are you contracting your titles with? Why aren't they providing their items without DRM. Libraries are already sharing the content with books, cds, and dvds. There is no reason to have restrictions. Especially if we are talking about e-books. They are difficult enough to use without the drm.
Posted by: Jeff | May14, 2008
