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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."

6 of 192 comments (clear)

  1. You could always host it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    On Freenet.

  2. Re:Here's A Suggestion by LostCluster · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Exactly. This is cracking open a bank vault with hardly anything in it. It's still a vault, and the cops are gonna come after anybody who breaks into it.

    If you wanna do a Rosa Parks-like stand of civil disobedience, go ahead, but also pack your bags for the slammer. The fact is, civil disobedience means breaking the law and paying the price, the theory being that if enough people do it it'll get attention and hopefully cause the law to be changed, or at least cause the local officials a headache trying to arrest 10,000 people when the local police department only has enough cells for 3. Somehow, a small number of hackers breaking a non-used scheme isn't quite the same effect...

    You're better off pointing out the DRM schemes that can be hacked with a single key. That's a much better test case than this...

  3. Wanted to use reader... by matchlight · · Score: 5, Insightful

    but I the first time I tried to do a little offline, off computer reading I realized that there was no print function. I didn't want to copy the whole thing or print it out for distribution. All I wanted to do is print off a chapter so I could hop in the car and read a little during my 5 hour drive during a weekend visit.

    The people making anti piracy software have to realize that you just can't force people to act in a simple fashion so that it's easier for them. They have to realize that they have to find real and intelligent solutions that work and still allow Joe Legal user fair and useful access to the content that's being provided.

    After doing a small search for a conversion program (this was a while back now) and not finding one, I just ditched it and went another route.

  4. Re:Does it matter any more? by FattMattP · · Score: 3, Insightful
    I wonder if it's worth putting effort into distributing an e-book cracking program when e-books are falling out of style.
    Yes. If they are falling out of style then that is even more of a reason to have a program like this. So that people can protect their investments. If ebooks fall out of style and no one makes software to read these anymore, what do you do when your device to read your ebooks breaks and you can't replace it? At least with this software the ebooks can be converted into other forms.
    --
    Prevent email address forgery. Publish SPF records for y
  5. Re:so tell me what a valid use for this is.... by generationxyu · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Why does anyone have the god-given right to tell me what I can't study? I've cracked encryption before for the purpose of learning how it works. Why? Because I want to LEARN about cryptography and security.

    Think of it this way: KFC's 11 secret herbs and spices aren't patented. If I have good enough tastebuds and can figure out what they are, it's not illegal for me to tell people what they are. Why would it be? It's the same thing.

    --
    I mod down pyramid schemes in sigs.
  6. Re:Where is Alan Cox in all of this? by EvilAlien · · Score: 3, Insightful
    There are still plenty of places without DMCA laws and the ability to buy American products.
    Such as Canada, the new Land of the Free... at least as long as our benevolent dictators don't bow to pressure and adopt laws similar to the DMCA.

    Besides, its not about American products, its about ideas. The US comes up with great ideas, like cars, Internet and so on that get implemtented better elsewhere. The freedom present in the US (should that be past tense?) creates an environment great for ideas (notice how intellectual property law in the US aggressively protects ideas)... but the Germans and Japanese sure do make better cars ;)

    --
    perl -e 'print $i=pack(c5, (41*2), sqrt(7056), (unpack(c,H)-2), oct(115), 10)'