Fw: Amazon's Ebook License A Scam, Says Doctorow

Joseph Harris - Debt Control Man
http://www.controlyourdebtcrisis.co.uk
Author: Control Your Debt Crisis on Your Own Terms
http://twitter.com/debtcontrolman 
SAQ - SAve the cheQue
----- Original Message ----- 
From: joseph h 
To: Publisher's Forum 
Sent: Friday, January 15, 2010 9:29 AM
Subject: Amazon's Ebook License A Scam, Says Doctorow 



Amazon's Ebook License A Scam, Says Doctorow 
Posted at 8:05AM Thursday 14 Jan 2010 
Says Doctorow: When Amazon "sells" you a Kindle ebook, they don't really sell it to you. If you read the fine-print, you'll see that they're waving their hands furiously and declaring that you aren't "buying" the book, but rather "taking a license to a limited set of uses" for the book.
http://www.booktrade.info/i.php/25177
http://mhpbooks.com/mobylives/?p=11748
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/01/12/even-amazon-cant-kee.html

[I normally ignore Doctorow; though he has some useful things to say I find his take on copyright confused and distorted by assumptions of the effects of the digital.

Here he seems to be quite failing to appreciate what a digital file is. He uses the Bezos quote, instead of a good interpretation of law  (Jeff Bezos: "[W]hen someone buys a book, they are also buying the right to resell that book, to loan it out, or to even give it away if they want. Everyone understands this.").

Correct me if I am wrong, but it is within the power of the copyright holder to restrict onward use. So far as I understand it a copy, however purchased, is licenced from the copyright holder. And since the digital file and modern technology allows anyone in possession of a file to act as a publisher the assertion of copyright owner's and holder's rights means that it must be licenced and is not 'sold']

Joseph Harris - Debt Control Man
http://www.controlyourdebtcrisis.co.uk
Author: Control Your Debt Crisis on Your Own Terms
http://twitter.com/debtcontrolman 
SAQ - SAve the cheQue

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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