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'Winston Smith' Speaks Out On MS Reader Convertor

Posted by timothy on from the gotta-read-on-my-zaurus dept.

David H. Rothman writes "'Winston Smith,' an unemployed American high school dropout self-named after 1984's hero, told my TeleRead.org site why he and buddies turned out Convert Lit to crack the Microsoft Reader e-book format. Winston makes clear he is pro-fair use and anti-piracy. Alas, new DMCAish legal restrictions in the United Kingdom will force the Dan Jackson Software site to shut off the Convert Lit downloading later this month. Just as in the States, free speech and fair use apparently matter less in the UK these days than they used to. According to Dan Jackson, Winston 'is indeed the real author of Convert LIT.' Meanwhile, if you're in a country without DMCAish thuggery and can host Dan at a new location, email him ASAP."

3 of 192 comments (clear)

  1. What are they teaching kids these days? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Winston Smith is not the hero of 1984. Big Brother is the hero of 1984. Big Brother has always been the hero of 1984.

  2. A new email address might be more useful... by bergeron76 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Uhm, after posting his [unobscured] email address on the Slashdot Frontpage, I tend to think that we might want to find the guy a new email addy first...

    --
    Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
  3. Later this month? by davidstrauss · · Score: 3, Funny
    Alas, new DMCAish legal restrictions in the United Kingdom will force the Dan Jackson Software site to shut off the Convert Lit downloading later this month.

    Slashdot may take care of that before they need to.