Extracting content from an LCP "protected" ePub
shkspr.mobi
As Cory Doctorow once said "Any time that someone puts a lock on something that belongs to you but won't give you the key, that lock's not there for you." But here's the thing with the LCP DRM scheme; they do give you the key! As I've written about previously, LCP mostly relies on the user entering their password (the key) when they want to read the book. Oh, there's some deep cryptographic magic in the background but, ultimately, the key is sat on your computer waiting to be found. Of…

Finally there are some more methods to tackle LCP DRM, but the messages to the creator from Readium consortium is so frustrating. Just read this:

“We were planning to now focus on new accessibility features on our open-source Thorium Reader, better access to annotations for blind users and an advanced reading mode for dyslexic people. Too bad; disturbances around LCP will force us to focus on a new round of security measures, ensuring the technology stays useful for ebook lending (stop reading after some time) and as a protection against oversharing.”

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  • notanapple@lemm.eeEnglish
    71·
    2 days ago

    I might be in minority here but I kinda see the point the Readium guy is making, specifically this one:

    We managed to convince publishers (even big US publishers) to adopt a solution that is flexible for readers and appreciated by public libraries and booksellers

    Publishers and companies will always want DRM so at the very least we (as a community) could offer a DRM that is less flawed, more respecting of privacy and FOSS, etc. If we dont, someone else will offer a DRM solution thats far worse (and publishers will implement it because they dont care and there are no consequences).

    • Yingwu@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
      8·
      2 days ago

      Why is DRM necessary? In the EU, many countries mostly just use digital watermarking for their native language e-books bought from stores (e.g. Germany and the Nordics). We got the music industry to get rid of DRM on music files. I’d argue watermarking is enough to discourage people, and no matter the DRM or no DRM all books still find their way to shadow libraries. I agree, as Terence also argues, that this is a very non-intrusive DRM, but which still has many problems of… just being a DRM solution for one. The licensing fee to allow support for LCP is also absurd, and ranges from a few thousand USD to tens of thousands. There are therefore no FOSS apps capable of supporting the DRM, like KOReader or Librera. The solution in itself is not fully FOSS either.

      And aren’t you annoyed by their arrogant tone and how they try to blame, guilt, and threaten their way forward?

      • notanapple@lemm.eeEnglish
        2·
        1 day ago

        Yeah now I agree with you. I didnt understand the full impact the first time around.

        (thanks for taking your time to actually explain it to all)

      • WarmApplePieShrek@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        21·
        1 day ago

        DRM isn’t necessary, but they will do DRM if they can. They can, so someone gave them not so bad DRM so they wouldn’t use worse DRM. The USA could make DRM illegal, but it did the opposite.