• DashboTreeFrog@discuss.onlineEnglish
    48·
    8 months ago

    I honestly hadn’t considered that eBook licensing data could be used in the way they describe in the article. EBooks becoming part of big data surveillance somehow feels especially disheartening to me.

    Lately I feel like I’ve been duped for years since I used to believe strongly in the phrase “if you’re not paying for it, you’re the product” but it feels like with every paid product or service nowadays you’re STILL the product…

    But a pirate is always free 🏴‍☠️

    • SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      10·
      8 months ago

      Pirate the ebook, buy a paper copy to support the author (they generally even earn more per paper copy, iirc). Ideally at a local book store, as they are a dying breed as well.

      Don’t like dead trees around? Gift it to someone. Or ask the local library if they want it

      • mrcrilly@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        8 months ago

        Excellent advice. I’d add: if you cannot gift it, or the library doesn’t want it, give it to a charity shop or book club.

    • Deceptichum@kbin.social
      8·
      8 months ago

      Yar har, fiddle de dee
      Being a pirate is alright to be
      Do what you want 'cause a pirate is free
      You are a pirate!

    • mihies@kbin.social
      07·
      8 months ago

      Also it’s free to not read it and it’s more fair as well. Or, you know, buy a dead wood copy.

      • Uranium3006@kbin.social
        5·
        8 months ago

        It used to be you worried about getting a virus from pirated books, now the corpo options are provably malware

      • Rentlar@lemmy.caEnglish
        3·
        8 months ago

        Yeah, in some cases piracy feels more straightforward and honest than having to sign away all my rights and data so I can do something as simple as reading a book.

        • Excrubulent@slrpnk.netEnglish
          2·
          8 months ago

          Oh no… I’ve believed the propaganda uncritically for most of my life and am just now realising how absurd it was to ever trust the establishment’s narrative.

            • Excrubulent@slrpnk.netEnglish
              1·
              8 months ago

              Idk, I think it’s normal to believe proaganda. We all do, and sometimes it’s even true. I’m just commenting on it because I’m so used to automatically criticising the mainstream message, so I’m usually on the other side of this discussion. But for a long time I worried about viruses from piracy, but it only just dawned on me that I am now far less afraid of that than of corporate proprietary spyware.

              It never occurred to me before that of course the pirates are more trustworthy, they always have been. The mainstream propaganda is so pervasive that it’s going to leave little bits stuck in your mind for a long time.

              • systemglitch@lemmy.worldEnglish
                2·
                8 months ago

                I’m still wary of some pirated content, but when using the right trackers, that fear basically disappears.

  • Keith@lemm.eeEnglish
    11·
    8 months ago

    Pirating and Librera or e-reader nevernconnected to internet.

  • banneryear1868@lemmy.worldEnglish
    81·
    8 months ago

    Ebooks are so fucking annoying to use with licensed books, like anyone who has a mom that got an ebook reader knows what a pain it is to set it up with a library and teach her how to use it, then you have device restrictions etc.

    Just another example of media where pirating is so easy and so much better. You download an incredibly small single file, copy to the device, and you have the book, easy. If I can get it from the library and pay for that service with my taxes, if I “check out” the book and then pirate it, there’s no ethical issues with pirating it.

    Personally though I prefer either audiobooks or hard copies, I just find the ebook readers too annoying to use and manage. I’d honestly rather buy a book then donate or lend it to someone when I’m done with it. In high school through college I had a job where I drove for about 20 hours every week and I basically went through all the classics in audiobook form and then got in to popular history and philosophy then into more academic territory, was surprising what I was able to get in audiobook format and just became accustomed to it.

  • nick@midwest.socialEnglish
    1·
    8 months ago

    Ayuuuup. Libgen, calibre, and Apple Books for me these days.

    I’ve bought around 1000 kindle books over the years, but that shit ended this year when I found out about this stuff. Spent a week stripping the drm from all my purchases (the ones Amazon didn’t burn up in the memory hole, anyway; bout a dozen of the books I paid for are no longer available for download), adding them to calibre, and backing the data up.

    Now I use the apple books app on my phone to read them. It’s not as convenient, but fuck Amazon.