Copyright and EULA: The Engines of  Illiteracy?

One argument expressed by people who believe that digital content, whether articles, books, or even music, should be free is that copyright laws are used to keep knowledge from those who cannot afford to buy the knowledge. In essence, copyright laws prevent knowledge from being distributed widely and thus contribute to illiteracy.

While many who advocate this position, do not want to deprive author’s of their incentive and reward to write books, they do believe that the “middleman”, the publishers, are using copyright laws to protect their profits. They cite the fact that publisher’s support treating electronic books like software and not like paper books. Software is usually licensed to a user and thus contains more conditions (or restrictions) than that of buying other products, which are documented in the End User License Agreement (EULA). Where as, paper books, are sold like any other product, once the user buys the book, they can use or dispose of the book in any manner they choose.

 Thus there is distrust of the publishing industry that they will try to control eBooks via licensing and thus make eBooks too expensive for those who need the knowledge.

 While there is an issue of ease of use, such as how easily can one user transfer (such as donate) an eBook to another user or a library, treating eBooks like software does not prohibit these actions. The ePublishing industry must educate users on these issues and clearly define usage rules that support tasks that users expect to complete with their eBooks such as donating eBooks to libraries, to friends, and even selling their eBooks to a used eBook store.