Harald Eilertsen

When this eBook store closes, your books disappear too

Thu, 04 Apr 2019 11:27:44 +0200

It’s a reminder, one I think which needs repeating regularly, of the shift in how we define ownership in the always-online era. In this case it’s about books, but it’s the same with most of your digital purchases - we’re increasingly leasing our minor belongings, which I think means leasing aspects of our memories and even personalities too.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-47810367

If you can't download it, you don't own it. If it's not in an openly documented format, you don't own it. If it requires a proprietary application, or proprietary code to read/watch/listen/view, you don't own it.

Credit to Microsoft for recognizing this and refunding the books in this case. Still it does not solve the underlying problem with the model. Only we as consumers can change that, so I guess it's safe to assume there will be no change.

#drm #ebook #ownership #society

Technology & Society

show all 4 comments

Harald Eilertsen

Thu, 04 Apr 2019 22:35:21 +0200

Considering how educated people are these days about consumers right in general

Are they really? My impression is rather the opposite. Whatever is more flashy wins. People accept terms of service that forbid them to try to repair what they have "bought," and flock to the products that makes repairs virtually impossible. And this is for physical stuff. The important thing is that it's cheap, so you can just buy a new one when it breaks. Dealing with warranties etc is just too much hassle...

Maybe it's just the horrible yuppie-attitude that sadly stuck in Norway, that make people think that "consumer rights" means they have a right to buy a new one every year, and throw the old one away. But I pretty much get the same impression from elsewhere too. On the other hand, people will defend their favourite brands like their life depended on it. Aggressively! Afaict consumer rights are dead, it's the corporate rights people worry about. That's what people identify with. How sad that may be.

Jakobu

Fri, 05 Apr 2019 16:23:56 +0200 from Diaspora

Yea, you are actually right about it when you see how much planned obsolescence is part of production. In the end you just buy a new one because they all do it and the wages of the repair men (no matter if it has to be authorised or not) is much more expensive. But when it comes to internet services the picture is just so crazy - Spotify, Paypal, Facebook all make money while byers and sellers are cheated big time.

Harald Eilertsen

Fri, 05 Apr 2019 17:06:22 +0200

I agree, it's even worse with the internet based services. But I think it's part of the same trend, just way more extreme.

Harald Eilertsen

harald@hub.volse.no