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"Security Engineering" Is Now Online

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the security-just-got-cheaper dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Ross Anderson, author of 'Security Engineering', notifies in a message to comp.risks that he just got permission from Wiley to let anyone download the full content of his book for free. This is one of the best books on computer security and it is used as textbook in many University courses (I teach two of them)."

5 of 103 comments (clear)

  1. Backwards System by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Interesting
    The publishers thought for years that it was too risky to let authors put books online but they are gradually learning that this isn't so. Putting a book online often increases its sales; more people read it and those who find it useful often go buy a copy.
    Funny how that works with media, isn't it? Newspapers are free to read on-line. Do they blame lack of income on that? Hell no, they probably make more money on ads that didn't cost ink and paper to print!

    If we were concerned about artists, you'd put all their music online--eliminating album profits to them and labels--and pay to see the live shows. That's where they make all their money anyway.

    Poor tech authors often sign anything that's in front of them to get their books out. Which means they don't make squat on the sales plus the publisher hikes the price up so that they turn a good profit. Ever bought Duda, Hart & Stork's Pattern Classification? Good luck, $100 for a six year old book!? Give me the black and white Asian release that's illegally sold on eBay for $10. Yet it remains a standard in the field.

    You don't believe me that authors sign outrageous contracts? Well, this poor man had to beg to get his work online. Sounds like he didn't sign a contract that left him creative and absolute control over the distribution of this work.

    Yet if they don't get it into print, it can't be used in a classroom setting. What a terrible system (hail capitalism). To all artists, authors and producers of media, please cut out the middle men that make it nearly impossible for me to afford your beautiful works and more or less cheat you out of money in a highway robbery-like scam.

    Printed word was an amazing invention because it posed a method to mechanically copy texts and ideas and get them out to people. The internet allows you to do that for nearly free ... use it!
    --
    My work here is dung.
    1. Re:Backwards System by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting
      Yet if they don't get it into print, it can't be used in a classroom setting.

      Fortunately, this isn't always true! While taking my advanced operating systems course, we used Linux Device Drivers which is available online for free. This is also the case with my Programming Languages class where we learned and wrote an interpreter for Scheme. Then, in my computers and society class we used ESR's writings and Stallman's biography.

      Maybe more topics could be covered in free format... Seems to me like Google is making life easier for some English courses and MIT already has opencourseware up and running.

      Guess I went off on a tangent over one little line... :)
    2. Re:Backwards System by Red+Flayer · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Sounds like he didn't sign a contract that left him creative and absolute control over the distribution of this work.
      Who woulda thunk it... he signs a contract to get a company to publish and distribute his work, and doesn't retain absolute control? If he wanted complete control, he would have self-published. There are pros and cons of both, and to rip the publishing industry for a perfectly reasonable contract term is ridiculous. As self-publishing becomes more and more feasible given the internet, these restrictions will change. This is a sign of that change, and you should celebrate Wiley rather than lambast them.

      Yet if they don't get it into print, it can't be used in a classroom setting. What a terrible system (hail capitalism).
      What an imbecilic troll. The problem isn't capitalism, it's the inherent nature of a bureaucratic system -- it's resistant to change (for good reason -- there are lots of crappy ideas out there). This depends not at all on what kind of socioeconomic system is in place, and capitalism may indeed offer better opportunities for authors (do you think an autocratic economic system would enhance the ability of authors to get their material accepted in the classroom?).

      Please note, I am not a free market idealist. I am also not an apologist for the publishing industry, and their treatment of authors. However, you severely misrepresent the fact that publishers such as Wiley do indeed provide services to authors, and to the public. (Editing, fact-checking, vetting, advertising, marketing, etc).

      Disclaimer: I work in magazine publishing, which is an entirely different kettle of fish. I do, however, deal with book authors on a frequent basis, both self-published and thos epublished by major imprints.
      --
      "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
  2. Two questions by Lord+Ender · · Score: 2, Interesting

    1) Is it cool to include this in Project Gutenberg?

    2) Does anyone have a link, or simple way, to download this entire book in one file or torrent?

    --
    A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
  3. Yes, it would. by khasim · · Score: 2, Interesting
    The book wouldn't exist in the first place without the middleman.

    Yes, it would. Strangely enough, books were written before "publishers" were invented.
    To say that they are not serving the author's interests is not true; the author had the choice not to sign the contract with the publisher. Contract negotiations are a give and take; the author both got something and had something taken away.

    Contracts do not always "serve" both party's interests. As in the case of the author's previous work no longer being published. How does that server the author's interests?
    Your interests are irrelevant to this business decision except as part of a potential market, and if the publisher thinks they can't make money in that potential market, they won't try.

    Maybe you aren't familiar with the term "middleman"?

    The "middleman" is between (in the "middle") the producer and the consumer. The author is the producer, I am the consumer. So my interests are a factor.
    You may not like it, but it's the same business decisions that made the book available in the first place.
    And it is "business decisions" such as that that are driving the changes in the market.

    Which is why so many of the "middlemen" are fighting to keep extending the copyright period. They want to re-write the laws to artificially create barriers between the producer and the consumer.