[Enhancement] Add option to apply DRM (or some other piracy countermeasure) to an original e-book

[Kim Headlee]

I code my own e-books via HTML and use Calibre for creating the EPUB and MOBI files. Vendor sites (Amazon, Nook, iTunes, etc.) apply their own DRM upon upload into their retail catalogs, but my original, DRM-free EPUB & MOBI files remain vulnerable to piracy when I send them to third-party book reviewers and blog tour hosts. I'm not the only author on the planet with this problem, and I'm hearing their complaints more frequently than ever these days.

I have looked through all the categories under Calibre "Convert books" and cannot find any option anywhere that governs the addition of piracy countermeasures to an EPUB or other output format. If I have missed it, please advise. :)

I know I could generate a title for the review version of an e-book that contains special wording like "<Title> Advance Copy, Not For Sale" to display on every page, but that can be hacked just as easily. I'm hoping the Calibre development team can come up with an awesome solution; I worked as a software engineer back in Ye Olden Days of Fortran and Cobol and other dead machine languages, so native HTML coding is about as recent as my programming skill set gets.

Thanks for your kind consideration of this idea!
Kim Headlee, author and retired software engineer
Calibre version 2.50.1
Operating system Windows 7

[Kovid Goyal (kovid)]

I'm afraid not. As a sogtware engineer, you should realize that all DRM
is snakeoil. There is no uncrackable DRM and indeed there *can be* no
uncrackable DRM as long as there exist general purpose computers.

 status wontfix

[Kim Headlee (kimheadlee)]

Understood -- but by that logic, ALL security measures, whether in the digital or physical world, then are "snakeoil." That doesn't mean a person shouldn't bother to lock their front door.

The idea is to convince thieves to go after softer targets.

Thanks anyway,
Kim Headlee
-----Original Message-----
>From: Kovid Goyal <email address hidden>
>Sent: Feb 4, 2016 11:04 AM
>To: <email address hidden>
>Subject: [Bug 1541903] Re: calibre bug 1541903
>
>I'm afraid not. As a sogtware engineer, you should realize that all DRM
>is snakeoil. There is no uncrackable DRM and indeed there *can be* no
>uncrackable DRM as long as there exist general purpose computers.
>
> status wontfix
>
>** Changed in: calibre
> Status: New => Won't Fix
>
>--
>You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
>report.
>https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1541903
>
>Title:
> [Enhancement] Add option to apply DRM (or some other piracy
> countermeasure) to an original e-book
>
>Status in calibre:
> Won't Fix
>
>Bug description:
> I code my own e-books via HTML and use Calibre for creating the EPUB
> and MOBI files. Vendor sites (Amazon, Nook, iTunes, etc.) apply their
> own DRM upon upload into their retail catalogs, but my original, DRM-
> free EPUB & MOBI files remain vulnerable to piracy when I send them to
> third-party book reviewers and blog tour hosts. I'm not the only
> author on the planet with this problem, and I'm hearing their
> complaints more frequently than ever these days.
>
> I have looked through all the categories under Calibre "Convert books"
> and cannot find any option anywhere that governs the addition of
> piracy countermeasures to an EPUB or other output format. If I have
> missed it, please advise. :)
>
> I know I could generate a title for the review version of an e-book
> that contains special wording like "<Title> Advance Copy, Not For
> Sale" to display on every page, but that can be hacked just as easily.
> I'm hoping the Calibre development team can come up with an awesome
> solution; I worked as a software engineer back in Ye Olden Days of
> Fortran and Cobol and other dead machine languages, so native HTML
> coding is about as recent as my programming skill set gets.
>
> Thanks for your kind consideration of this idea!
> Kim Headlee, author and retired software engineer
> Calibre version 2.50.1
> Operating system Windows 7
>
>To manage notifications about this bug go to:
>https://bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/1541903/+subscriptions

[Eli Schwartz (eschwartz)]

The difference is that most security measures are meant to keep outsiders, out.
DRM by definition requires giving the decryption keys to the user, but hiding the fact from them.
This is a contradiction in terms, and once one person figures out where the key is and how to decrypt the content, they write simple, easy-to-use, *effortless* software that lets everyone do so.
Failing that, you will ALWAYS be vulnerable to the analog loophole.

...

Now, there is a reason why DRM is applied by ereader/app vendors, because ideally the DRM doesn't stop the reader from reading **at all**.
Or at least you pay Adobe to use their system, which is already supported by many devices.
Any DRM scheme invented by calibre would not work unless the reader was willing to read with calibre.

...

DRM schemes cost a lot of money in development and infrastructure. Who's going to run the validation servers?
Every DRM system has been cracked for free. (Apple continued throwing money at it until people stopped bothering to keep up -- it wasn't worth it for a store that few people buy from anyway.)

...

calibre is open-source. Open-source DRM is a stupid idea, because everyone can see exactly how it works and that makes it incredibly simple to break.

...

The developer is morally against the idea of DRM, and treating paying customers as though they are already thieves.
Even if it could be done, AND someone else wrote the code to do it and contributed it to calibre for free, I for one would expect it to be rejected, dismissed, returned-to-sender-marked-unopened, and spit upon for good measure.

...

...

Now, there are many more fascinating reasons why DRM is a bad idea, but this isn't really the best place to discuss that. You can check out the MobileRead.com forums if you like, it has been discussed to death numerous times.