Reading Kindle books on Linux

[Tony Baechler]

OK, just to avoid confusion, let me clarify my position here when I say that 
I mention legality in this context.

1. I said that I wouldn't share the program to decrypt Kindle books on this 
list.  This is a public mailing list sponsored by Red Hat.  Anyone can 
search the list archives, thus anyone, blind or not, could break the DRM.

2. Whether it's legal for ablind person to break DRM or not is another issue 
which I won't discuss here.  The fact is that Amazon and the publishers 
don't want anyone to break the DRM.  Again, there are some exceptions, but 
this is generally still the case.

3. If someone looks hard enough and wants to break the DRM, Google will 
probably find the solution.  If not, see below.  If the below is not an 
issue, you may write to me privately and I'll consider on a case by case 
basis whether to share what information I have.

4. Even if it is legal for the blind to break DRM in the US, that doesn't 
necessarily apply in the rest of the world.  This is an international list 
and I can't possibly know every set of copyright laws in the world.  See #1 
above.  I personally have no idea if it's legal in the US or not, but I have 
been informed that it might be, so for the sake of argument, let's assume it 
is.  If you are within the US, are a US citizen and can't get the book in 
question on Bookshare, you may explain the situation to me privately.  I 
will require a full name and physical address.  If I am satisfied that you 
are a US citizen who is blind, I'll consider sharing what I have.

Perhaps I'm being too cautious here, but I really, really don't want to be 
sued and I don't want to possibly lose NLS, Bookshare or any other 
privileges due to breaking the law.  Future employers, lawyers, etc can and 
do search the Internet for possible copyright violations and I would rather 
not take a chance.

On 9/15/2015 7:23 AM, Jude DaShiell wrote:
> Last I heard blind people are permitted under the fair use doctrine to break
> drm on all books with two exception categories; lyrics and drama are both
> off limits.
> That was when Kurt Sylke was running the Library of Congress.
>