Hell has frozen over..DriveThruRPG selling non-DRM books

[reanjr]

And prison time is just silly, as you can't be punished by prison time for copyright infringement.

There is currently popular legislation sitting in both the US Senate and House to make copyright infringement a criminal activity. From following this legslation, I have all reason to believe that this will be a reality in the near future (I certainly hope so).

 

[maddman75]

Question--if watermarking is so effective, why isn't this technology used at say--RPGNow?

Dunno - you'd have to ask them. One drawback is that its a rather server-intensive process. When a user buys the book, rather than just offering a download link, the server has to create a special version of the PDF just for that user. So it increases your operating cost. As RPGNow functions as sort of a gateway marketplace for many game designers, such increased costs may be unpalatable. I mean if you make less money with protected product than nonprotected product due to increased charges then that's a bad business decision. But that gets into the whole 'piracy costs sales' debate.

 

[maddman75]

There is currently popular legislation sitting in both the US Senate and House to make copyright infringement a criminal activity. From following this legslation, I have all reason to believe that this will be a reality in the near future (I certainly hope so).

Yeah, because we all know those copyright infringers are a dangerous element that needs to be removed from society.

 

[Yair]

This is excellent news. (I knew the were "considering" watermarking, but not that the process was so advanced that we'll have it in one week!) I believe my bank account will soon plummet.

I doubt whether watermarking will be more difficult to deal with than cracking DRM, so I don't think it will be significantly superior in discouraging piracy. But I don't care - I can actually USE a watermarked pdf, and that's great. I can't even activate DRM ony my computer...

Yair, watching his money fondly, knowing so much will soon be spent...

 

[reanjr]

Question--if watermarking is so effective, why isn't this technology used at say--RPGNow?

From what I've read, watermarking is NOT effective at curbing piracy (though I have not read anything specific to the eBook industry). What it is effective at is making sure a casual pirate is only a pirate for a brief amount of time.

One needs a certain infrastructure to effectively use watermarks. For one thing, you have to create the PDF on the fly since each one is different. This generally requires complicated or pricey software and a certain amount of server processing. The distributor would have to create a tool for their publishers to use, in all likelihood, so that the publisher can accomodate the infrastructure. There may also be liability issues between publisher and distributor, whether real or perceived.

It really boils down to cost/benefit. For a company dealing strongly with industry giants (DTRPG), it may work. A company dealing more with the smaller publishers (RPG Now) may not find the system worth it.

 

[Mynex]

Question--if watermarking is so effective, why isn't this technology used at say--RPGNow?

Because it's not effective.

Anyone with the time, patience, skill, and correct editing software can either; a) Remove the watermark and everything with it, leaving a perfectly viable (and high quality) PDF or b) _change_ the name...

ANY encryption method can be broken with time... So even if they encode xyx information in the watermark, someone could (and probably would) crack it eventually.

Imagine this scenario... you're sitting home gaming with some buds and get a knock at the door...

"Mr so-and-so, you're under arrest for copyright infringement and distribution of pirated material across state lines and country boundries"

Yea... I'm totally opposed to what DT does now, personally... as a publisher I understand why publishers like it.... but being in software I understand that piracy is _going_ to happen...

Sadly there is no all in one answer that someone, somewhere will much up because they're bored or like the challenge. *sigh*

 

[reanjr]

Yeah, because we all know those copyright infringers are a dangerous element that needs to be removed from society.

I has nothing to do with danger. Rather it has to do with deterrance. There are many laws in America designed to have strict punishment not to fit the crime, but to deter a crime that is difficult to pursue or prosecute. Hate crimes is a good example. Murder is murder. But if you murder someone because thay are of a different race, you will find yourself in prison for a significantly longer period of time in most states. In other states, you may be more likely to suffer capital punishment for such a crime. Much of this is common law, but it is a well-accepted practice in the American justice system.

The fact that copyright infringement nowadays almost always has to involve two state governments, federal courts, etc. makes it a very expensive and difficult proposition. There is also the difficulty in assessing damages due to the ephemeral nature of digital media and the cheap (often free) distribution. Oftentimes, a case may go unheard because a small company can not afford to bankroll such an expensive litigation suit. That's where criminalizing copyright infringement makes things work much more smoothly.

 

[Darkness]

There is currently popular legislation sitting in both the US Senate and House to make copyright infringement a criminal activity. From following this legslation, I have all reason to believe that this will be a reality in the near future (I certainly hope so).

This is getting political, and thus against EN World rules.
Stop discussing such tangents and focus on non-political points (chance of finding out offenders' identities, whether this technology will help, etc.) instead, everybody.

If anyone has comments or questions, e-mail me.

 

[reanjr]

This is getting political, and thus against EN World rules.
Stop discussing such tangents and focus on non-political points (chance of finding out offenders' identities, whether this technology will help, etc.) instead, everybody.

If anyone has comments or questions, e-mail me.

I apologize, I saw it more as legal than political, but alrighty.

 

[maddman75]

Because it's not effective.

Anyone with the time, patience, skill, and correct editing software can either; a) Remove the watermark and everything with it, leaving a perfectly viable (and high quality) PDF or b) _change_ the name...

ANY encryption method can be broken with time... So even if they encode xyx information in the watermark, someone could (and probably would) crack it eventually.

Imagine this scenario... you're sitting home gaming with some buds and get a knock at the door...

"Mr so-and-so, you're under arrest for copyright infringement and distribution of pirated material across state lines and country boundries"

Yea... I'm totally opposed to what DT does now, personally... as a publisher I understand why publishers like it.... but being in software I understand that piracy is _going_ to happen...

Sadly there is no all in one answer that someone, somewhere will much up because they're bored or like the challenge. *sigh*

The point isn't that a gaming company is going to sic a pack of lawyers on you. Its that the gaming company will *know* that it was you that did the pirating. That's enough to stop most people from casually, thoughtlessly, putting it in their shared folder.

And yes, its removable. But so is DRM, paticularly DTRPG's current plan which is crackable to anyone with an hour to kill and access to google. If its anywhere as effective (and I believe it will be more effective) then it is a better business plan because it treats the customer better and results in a better product.

I personally don't believe that piracy seriously impacts sales. Most of the pirates aren't going to buy the book if they can't get it off P2P, they just won't get it at all. I base this on some unabashed PDF pirates I know. They collect the files almost compulsively, getting them just because they can. They same people also spend great amounts of money on RPG books. It isn't the same as music - I don't want to read books on my computer. I do want to listen to music on my computer.