3 ms·

This seems to be intended for IP piracy. Clarifying that in the title would help. I'm trying to encourage publishers and authors to offer legitimate sales of

by neilv 3y ago

This seems to be intended for IP piracy. Clarifying that in the title would help. I'm trying to encourage publishers and authors to offer legitimate sales of DRM-free ebooks, so would prefer we try not to have the term "ebook" associated with piracy.

RamblingCTO 3y ago
[flagged]
- neilv 3y ago
  Title is "Building an Open Source Decentralized E-Book Search Engine", and screenshot seems to suggest piracy.
  - t-3 3y ago
    Nothing about the title suggests piracy, and the screenshot doesn't show download links - hell, there aren't any actual Harry Potter books in a search for "Harry Potter". Even if it were searching for files, free and legal ebooks are ubiquitous, no copyright infringement necessary to make it a worthwhile endeavor.
  - WolfeReader 3y ago
    Please be specific about how the screenshot advocates piracy. (Also, a personal preference: never use the phrase "seems to suggest" again; if you're going to make an accusation, be honest enough to actually make it.)
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
sureglymop 3y ago
It's a search engine... What about it makes it specific to IP piracy? I actually understand your point well but I think it's even more important not to group in any legitimate use of technology with illegitimate use of it. Especially considering recent events (lawsuits over Yuzu and Dolphin emulators).
- neilv 3y ago
  Good point. In much the same way that you're trying to avoid emulators being considered only for piracy, I'm trying to avoid that with ebooks. What I was commenting upon is that I think this particular thing will actually appear to many people to be for piracy of ebooks, and I don't want "ebook" to become synonymous with "pirated book" in the mind of the public (and especially not in the minds of publishers and authors who I want to encourage and support making non-DRM ebooks). As a compromise, I'd like people whose efforts are intended for pirating books to distinguish that from legitimate ebooks, not call it simply "ebooks". Maybe then it'll be easier for our respective "freedom and access" goals to coexist. (FWIW, I'm actually sympathetic to some of the uses of pirated books, such as sharing the wealth of the world's information with people who just can't afford it, or who have it officially denied to them. I'm less sympathetic to people who could pay for something but choose to take it instead, but I'm not trying to combat that here. I just want to mitigate some of the bad effects of piracy, such as legitimate buyers only being able to get DRM'd books, and only for consumer-hostile locked-down devices. Please don't inadvertently sabotage that orthogonal effort by appropriating language.)
citruscomputing 3y ago
It does seem to be! Isn't that cool?
jrm4 3y ago
Sure, but by the same argument, libraries seem to be intended for IP piracy (or more precisely, the thing that drives most of this, which is "people reading books for free") as well.

by neilv 3y ago

RamblingCTO 3y ago

[flagged]

neilv 3y ago
Title is "Building an Open Source Decentralized E-Book Search Engine", and screenshot seems to suggest piracy.
- t-3 3y ago
  Nothing about the title suggests piracy, and the screenshot doesn't show download links - hell, there aren't any actual Harry Potter books in a search for "Harry Potter". Even if it were searching for files, free and legal ebooks are ubiquitous, no copyright infringement necessary to make it a worthwhile endeavor.
- WolfeReader 3y ago
  Please be specific about how the screenshot advocates piracy. (Also, a personal preference: never use the phrase "seems to suggest" again; if you're going to make an accusation, be honest enough to actually make it.)

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

sureglymop 3y ago

It's a search engine... What about it makes it specific to IP piracy? I actually understand your point well but I think it's even more important not to group in any legitimate use of technology with illegitimate use of it. Especially considering recent events (lawsuits over Yuzu and Dolphin emulators).

neilv 3y ago
Good point. In much the same way that you're trying to avoid emulators being considered only for piracy, I'm trying to avoid that with ebooks. What I was commenting upon is that I think this particular thing will actually appear to many people to be for piracy of ebooks, and I don't want "ebook" to become synonymous with "pirated book" in the mind of the public (and especially not in the minds of publishers and authors who I want to encourage and support making non-DRM ebooks). As a compromise, I'd like people whose efforts are intended for pirating books to distinguish that from legitimate ebooks, not call it simply "ebooks". Maybe then it'll be easier for our respective "freedom and access" goals to coexist. (FWIW, I'm actually sympathetic to some of the uses of pirated books, such as sharing the wealth of the world's information with people who just can't afford it, or who have it officially denied to them. I'm less sympathetic to people who could pay for something but choose to take it instead, but I'm not trying to combat that here. I just want to mitigate some of the bad effects of piracy, such as legitimate buyers only being able to get DRM'd books, and only for consumer-hostile locked-down devices. Please don't inadvertently sabotage that orthogonal effort by appropriating language.)

citruscomputing 3y ago

It does seem to be! Isn't that cool?

jrm4 3y ago

Sure, but by the same argument, libraries seem to be intended for IP piracy (or more precisely, the thing that drives most of this, which is "people reading books for free") as well.