Blind People Found Freedom to Break Ebook DRM. In 3 years, they should do it again


This does not happen often. The computer reader instead stumbles with static images, sometimes repeating the file name, leaving the blind reader with no way to determine the meaning. It is to assume, again, that the available textbook of the book exists at the beginning. If one is available, it can only be accessed on other platforms.

Variety can be confusing. Take it Calculus: Early Passers, a well-known book from the publisher of Cengage Learning. The “eTextbook” available on Amazon is just a direct look at the book, without any wording about it. Bookshare, an online library, offers a the type of book, but even the copy is not available enough, because you do not have alt descriptions of static images.

Brad Turner, VP and GM of international education and reading at Benetech, a nonprofit behind Bookshare, says that although his company sometimes inserts content available in ebooks without the consent of the publishers, they will not be able to write their comments on photos.

“Our partnership with the publishers is, give us what you have, and we promise we will never change it. We will just make it possible,” Turner said. “In many of the images, diagrams, charts, graphs, formulas, equations, we are not qualified as writers or printers.”

Emily Featherston, director of corporate communications at Cengage, says the company is committed to providing accessible ebooks, as well as having “access to resources and a home team of digital and technical experts” to support its business and technology. groups. Readers who purchase and access articles through the Cengage platform will have access to TTS and other articles, but this is not guaranteed from other people who may be accustomed to purchase from.

“While this work helps to demonstrate our commitment by providing available feedback, we also recognize that availability is a journey, not a destination, and there is always room for improvement,” says Featherston.

That journey has been a long one. Technology has been around for years — some people use devices like Kindle Converter or Kodix misunderstandings and digital rights management, transforming the original ebooks into an accessible form — but the biggest problem is simple. Publishers can provide accessible, digital versions of their books. He should not, and often does not.

That is why prosecutors in the United States are pushing for a ban on the 23-year-old law, which was signed one year before Napster’s enactment and before mobile phones, when the biggest problem with copying was children’s ripping music on CDs. The idea this month to increase the excuse for downloading available ebooks is good news, but the whole process will be repeated in three years.

At that point, permanent restoration is near. In 2019, a European Accessibility Act became law in the EU. It will be launched in June 2025, which requires that all published ebooks in the EU after this period be available. Some hope it can set an example here.

“We have enacted the law of belts. We have enacted the law of natural gas without guidance. Why can’t we enact a law found in books?” Turner says.

Meanwhile, the Bridges are looking to the future – with trepidation.

“Mathematics will be bad,” says Rebecca. “There is no doubt in my mind.”


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