[dvd-discuss] Free ebook converter

[John Schulien <schulien(at)speakeasy.net>]

An interesting example of how the DMCA is
changing the face of software.

As we all know, the ebook format was cracked
last year.  Elcomsoft wrote a program to
export ebooks, and placed it on the market
for $99.00.  They were attacked under the
DMCA, prosecuted, and the product was
withdrawn from the market.

Adobe must have breathed a sigh of relief
when Advanced Ebook Processor disappeared
from the market, thus permitting Adobe to
continue marketing their cracked ebook copy
protection format to their clients, without
any fear that their clients' customers
might be able to bypass the chains on their
ebooks and use them in unauthorized ways,
like having their computer read them out loud.

As reported on www.infoanarchy.org, a new,
free utility has just been released that
appears to do the same thing as Advanced
Ebook Processor.  It allows the legitimate
purchaser of an ebook to export the
contents of the ebook into unencrypted
HTML.  The only differences is that it's
free, it has no license key, and it fits
nicely into a 30K zip file.

Listen to the anonymous author of the
program:

 > I am unable to post here anonymously
 > (and hence using a public library system
 > and some vulnerable machines for this post)
 > so, updates will probably NOT be announced
 > here, unless someone is willing to play
 > proxy for me. You can, however, find this
 > on Freenet, and I will do my best to note
 > new releases on the frost board 'bookz'.

Clearly the most important lesson of
Elcomsoft has been absorbed and put into
practice.