Wait, Wait... The Kindle Swindle?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

oes -- say Apple-- need to get voice rights to use their speek on non- 
Apple software?

djf

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Glenn S. Tenney" <tenney () think org>
Date: February 27, 2009 3:06:05 PM EST
To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Wait, Wait... The Kindle Swindle?

Dave,

I think that this would be of interest to IP, but didn't see it hit  
the list so I'm re-sending it.

Not that I agree with Mr. Blount, but if the Authors Guild's point  
holds water in the case of the Kindle, then what about, for example,  
Apple's built-in Text To Speech capabilities and web-sites or PDFs?

--
Glenn Tenney CISSP CISM



OPINION | February 25, 2009
Op-Ed Contributor: The Kindle Swindle?
By ROY BLOUNT Jr.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/opinion/25blount.html?emc=eta1

...

The Kindle 2 is a portable, wireless, paperback-size device onto which  
people can download a virtual library of digitalized titles. Amazon  
sells these downloads, and where the books are under copyright, it  
pays royalties to the authors and publishers.

Serves readers, pays writers: so far, so good. But there's another  
thing about Kindle 2 - its heavily marketed text-to-speech function.  
Kindle 2 can read books aloud. And Kindle 2 is not paying anyone for  
audio rights.

...

What the guild is asserting is that authors have a right to a fair  
share of the value that audio adds to Kindle 2's version of books. For  
this, the guild is being assailed. On the National Federation of the  
Blind's Web site, the guild is accused of arguing that it is illegal  
for blind people to use "readers, either human or machine, to access  
books that are not available in alternative formats like Braille or  
audio."

In fact, publishers, authors and American copyright laws have long  
provided for free audio availability to the blind and the guild is all  
for technologies that expand that availability. (The federation,  
though, points out that blind readers can't independently use the  
Kindle 2's visual, on-screen controls.) But that doesn't mean Amazon  
should be able, without copyright-holders' participation, to pass that  
service on to everyone.

The guild is also accused of wanting to profiteer off family bedtime  
rituals. A lawyer at the Electronic Frontier Foundation sarcastically  
warned that "parents everywhere should be on the lookout for legal  
papers haling them into court for reading to their kids."

For the record: no, the Authors Guild does not expect royalties from  
anybody doing non-commercial performances of "Goodnight Moon." If  
parents want to send their children off to bed with the voice of  
Kindle 2, however, it's another matter.





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