Comments on: Banned Books Week 2010: Still Time to Celebrate

By: David

David — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 14:27:00 +0000

Thanks for the article link! That was a very well argued counterpoint; something I honestly did not expect.

You’re right, it’s not the concept of digital books that is the problem, it’s the DRM. If I was able to download a file, and be 100% assured that nobody would be updating it or deleting it without my permission, and that this file could be read on any of a number of e-book reader devices out there… then yeah, I’d have no complaints about the e-book system. And maybe we’re getting to that point; I don’t know. I’m woefully not up to date on the topic right now.

(And no fair derailing my train of thought with talk of tin-foil bikinis. ^_^)

By: Peter

Peter — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 05:01:27 +0000

I just had to comment again. After downloading the pdf I saw Anne Frank’s Diary there, WTF! Also a dictionary, because a kid looked up rude words! Now, didn’t we all do that at some point in our lives? The BBC comedy ‘Blackadder the Third’ even made a joke about the prince regent looking up rude word in Dr. Johnson first dictionary. I mean what the hell is going on in some peoples minds?

By: Peter

Peter — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 03:46:33 +0000

I saddens me to know this kind of thing goes on still. Although as a parent of a girl who is begin to ask questions on reproduction I have to say that this list has brought to my attention the very kind of book I’ve been looking for in ‘Deal with It! A Whole New Approach to Your Body, Brain, and Life as a gURL’ I’ve just had a look inside on amazon and it look perfect, so thanks for the list, in a perverse way, for helping me find this book.

By: violet

violet — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 02:08:10 +0000

David, you might find this interesting as well:

http://meandmykindle.wordpress.com/2010/10/01/reading-banned-books-on-the-kindle/

By: violet

violet — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 02:04:40 +0000

David — I’ve been talking about this all day, feeling like I’m wearing a tin foil hat (and matching bikini).

I feel the same way as you do. And *that* is why DRM is crap and must be demolished.

By: David

David — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 01:40:40 +0000

While I greatly appreciate the convenience of instant downloads from anywhere (not to mention saving my spine for better uses by not lifting three tons of printed material every time I move), this is why I can’t fully get behind e-books; the potential for censorship and “unpublishing” is just too great. Amazon proved that last year with their all-too-apt forced deletion of Orwell’s 1984 off of peoples’ Kindles.

What happens when one of the Texas BOA or Kansas BOA kooks makes her way through the system to a position of national importance? Does anybody really believe Amazon will spend time, money, or political clout fighting to resist government demands that gay-penguin books be recalled? Or what about that book recently published by the former soldier about the Afghanistan conflict; the one that the Air Force had to buy up and burn every existing copy of, because it was potentially embarrassing? How much more often will things like that happen when all they have to do is send a subpoena and push a button on a computer?

My justified paranoia makes me sad. I really do wish I could put my entire library on a hard-drive; then I’d have a whole extra bedroom to spare for other purposes (dedicated dungeon, maybe?)

By: violet

violet — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 00:00:29 +0000

Seriously — that PDF is like a shopping list for me.

By: Rhacodactylus

Rhacodactylus — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 22:55:00 +0000

Maybe I'm cynical, but I LOVE it when people start trying to burn or ban books, how else would I know what was worth reading =) ~Rhaco