Digital Rights Moratorium (or How We Learned To Mom-Proof E-Books) #TheNakedBook
March 22, 2012 § 1 Comment
It will become known as the night the moms finally killed off Digital Rights Management. Or how publishers learned to feel the fear but did it anyway.
The first ever broadcast of The Naked Book heard from two big names in the e-book business explaining why that bit of code that prevents readers from sharing their e-books is also preventing moms from downloading e-books. And it is the moms that are important.
Kobo‘s director of merchandising Nathan Maharaj, speaking from the company’s HQ in Canada, explained that a DRM-centric model puts DRM first, and enjoyment of content second. But a switch to a cloud-based platform that syncs across devices will mean moms are reading ebooks unaided.
Anobii chief executive Matteo Berlucchi called for publishers to move towards the “universal” e-book: anytime, anywhere, any device, telling the audience that publishers worries over piracy were “overstated”. How much easier can you make piracy than a Google search and one click, he said, but these were not readers publishers should be fretting about. “You cannot prove that the pirate is a bona fide customer.”
Meanwhile, the author of Angelmaker Nick Harkaway explained that he had given up trying to convince his own publisher to sweeten DRM. At some point, he said, you just have to trust that they will do the job they are supposed to do.
Wise words, Nick. But have they met Nathan’s mom?
Presented by Philip Jones, deputy editor of The Bookseller aided and abetted by Sam Missingham and Catherine Neilan corralling the chat room.
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I had fun on this panel. Cool new radio show about books and book culture.
Nathan's blog 
Speaking as a 48 year old mom, with 4 kids, 2 Kindles, an iPad and a minimum 3 book per week reading habit…it took me 30 minutes to de-DRM the 231 books I bought from Amazon. I now share my books with my 84 year old mom, and my 26 year old daughter, without shame or remorse. I do NOT post them on the Internet, I buy them honestly and then share them reasonably. Publishers are delusional if they think DRM is useful. I’m not an evil genius, I’m an accountant in Tennessee. If I can break your DRM with Google and 30 free minutes…why are you bothering? You’re hurting yourself, and helping Amazon. Dumbasses.