[d@DCC] [Fwd: [Doctorow] DRM-free, free-as-in-beer Dutch Little Brother ebook]

From: Russell McOrmond <russell _-at-_ flora.ca>
To: "General Copyright Discussions (questions, organizing, etc)" <discuss (at) list.digital-copyright.ca>
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:38:36 -0500

   I find this very interesting.

   It's one of those proud moments to know a fellow Canadian is willing 
to put his money where his mouth is and be willing to simply offer 
content for $free rather than encourage fans to be infected by DRM.

   It is frustrating to note that there are publishing intermediaries 
that have absolutely no respect for the rights of authors or of their 
publishers.  This is a case where an intermediary with an exclusive 
contract has said DRM or nothing for commercial distribution -- this is 
a clause that should clearly be illegal under contract law.

   It is unfortunate that the outgoing Canadian associations for authors 
(TWUC, PWAC, and the Quebec-specific associations) are tunnel-vision 
focused on contractual agreements with publishers who want to move 
online (and where the authors don't seem to want to, fearful of new 
media they aren't interested in learning about).  There are far more 
important authors rights to be focused on, and opposing DRM  (and any 
treaty which encourages, legalises or legally protects it) to ensure 
they aren't left out of any future contract negotiations should be top 
on their priority.


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [Doctorow] DRM-free, free-as-in-beer Dutch Little Brother ebook
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:42:23 -0500
From: Cory Doctorow


Uitgeverij De Vliegende Hollander is the Dutch publisher for Little
Brother, and they've really put a big push behind it. Unfortunately,
they're also locked into distributing their catalog as DRM-crippled
ebooks through an online retailer that is the only major ebook vendor in
the Netherlands.

But they're good folks at my publisher, and they're not fond of DRM
either. When I asked them if there was some way we could sell the ebook
without DRM, they told me that it was impossible (only one major ebook
vendor, remember?), but would I mind if they just *gave away* the ebook
in DRM-free ePub form?

Would I mind? That's a *dandy* solution! Here's a link to the free,
DRM-free Dutch ePub version of Little Brother. Tell your (Dutch)
friends, and be sure to stay clear of that infected DRM copy that's
being sold.

Little Brother ePub (DRM-free):
http://craphound.com/littlebrother/Cory_Doctorow_-_Little_Brother_Dutch.epub

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