The EFF wants your DRM horror stories

[AnemicOak]

Tell Us Your DRM Horror Stories about Ebooks, Games, Music, Movies and the Internet of Things!
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/0...horror-stories

Have you ever bought music, movies, games, ebooks, or gadgets, only to discover later that the product had been deliberately limited with Digital Rights Management? We want to hear from you!

We're preparing a petition to a government agency on fair labelling practices for DRM-restricted devices, products and services. DRM used to be limited to entertainment products, but it's spread with the Internet of Things, and it's turning up in the most unlikely of places. As the Copyright Office heard during last summer's hearings, DRM is now to be found in cars and tractors, in insulin pumps and pacemakers, even in voting machines. What's more, the manufacturers using DRM believe that they have the right to invoke the "anti-circumvention" rules in 1998's Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to prevent competitors from removing DRM in order to give you more choice about the products you own.

We believe this is an abusive extension of copyright law and that the law should protect businesses and individuals that remove digital locks for lawful purposes -- for example, your mechanic should be able to diagnose your car's problems and install aftermarket parts rather than being locked out of the vehicle's computers and stuck with using original parts at inflated prices.

[AnnSheridan]

Fictionwise was an online company reportedly owned by Barnes & Noble.
After purchasing a first generation Nook e-reader, I bought e-books from both B&N and Fictionwise. As Nook grew and changed through its generations, B&N ultimately dropped Fictionwise. B&N sent emails. B&N offered to transfer the files to Nook content. For me it never happened, despite my following directions, honoring their deadline and many pleas to B&N customer service. I lost more than $300 of books due to the closing of Fictionwise.

[pidgeon92]

The Fictionwise closing isn't really a DRM issue. I remember while Fictionwise was still in operation that one was supposed to download purchased titles within a relatively short period of time after purchase - which I think might have been a week? It was written on the receipt emails.

There were ebooks that I had purchased from them that I failed to download in that time period, and a month later when I went to download them they were no longer available for download. Fictionwise told me that there was nothing they could do about it; they no longer had access to the titles, either. These were Random House ebooks, and their contract with Random House had expired.

I actually ended up getting to download these missing titles after B&N closed Fictionwise and moved the ebooks to my Nook account. There were about a dozen of them, and I was pleasantly surprised to get them back.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

Fictionwise told me that there was nothing they could do about it; they no longer had access to the titles, either. These were Random House ebooks, and their contract with Random House had expired.

Maybe that is part of the reason Fictionwise got closed? Or the other way around: B&N let the contracts expire so they could close Fictionwise?

It seems strange though - if any publisher decides not renew a contract with Amazon, does that mean that I would lose access to previously purchased books and they disappear out of cloud?

[sadievan]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

if any publisher decides not renew a contract with Amazon, does that mean that I would lose access to previously purchased books and they disappear out of cloud?

Good question.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Maybe that is part of the reason Fictionwise got closed? Or the other way around: B&N let the contracts expire so they could close Fictionwise?

It seems strange though - if any publisher decides not renew a contract with Amazon, does that mean that I would lose access to previously purchased books and they disappear out of cloud?

Fictionwise didn't deal directly with most publishers and didn't host a lot of the big pub books themselves they relied on distributors like LightningSource and OverDrive to fulfill downloads.

There have been books on Amazon where the publisher has stopped selling it or it's been picked up by a different publisher or the pub has gone under and the original book purchased can still be accessed by purchasers (but not found in the store) and I've seen the same thing at Kobo. I'd have to guess when Amazon set up for selling eBooks their second time around they put some provision in the contract that once a book is "purchased" any purchasers will continue to have access even if the publisher quits selling it, goes under, stops dealing with Amazon, etc.

[EowynCarter]

Originally Posted by sadievan

Good question.

When that happened with steam, games stayed available for download to previous buyers. You just weren't able to buy it anymore.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Fictionwise didn't deal directly with most publishers and didn't host a lot of the big pub books themselves they relied on distributors like LightningSource and OverDrive to fulfill downloads.

There have been books on Amazon where the publisher has stopped selling it or it's been picked up by a different publisher or the pub has gone under and the original book purchased can still be accessed by purchasers (but not found in the store) and I've seen the same thing at Kobo.

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

When that happened with steam, games stayed available for download to previous buyers. You just weren't able to buy it anymore.

Thank you, that is good to know. I still back them up to calibre, but Amazon's cloud is just too convenient with multiple devices.