International Day Against DRM 2015

published May 05, 2015

Wednesday May 6 is the International Day Against DRM. Leanpub supports this cause, and we will be participating by showing our support on social media throughout the day.

Also, I’m happy to announce that some of our authors have chosen to participate in one of the more popular aspects of the event, where digital content owners offer discounts for their work throughout the day to show their support.

Here is a list of the Leanpub books and bundles that will be discounted on May 6 as part of the promotion. Many thanks to the participating authors!

PHP Beyond the Web by Rob Aley
https://leanpub.com/php/c/DayAgainstDRM

Integration Testing from the Trenches by Nicolas Fränkel
https://leanpub.com/integrationtest/c/QzlmnZswQy6o

Working Effectively with Unit Tests by Jay Fields
https://leanpub.com/wewut/c/dayagainstdrm

React+d3.js by Swizec Teller and Malcolm Maclean
https://leanpub.com/reactd3js/c/dayAgainstDRM

Talking with Tech Leads by Patrick Kua http://leanpub.com/talking-with-tech-leads/c/DayAgainstDRM

The Retrospective Handbook by Patrick Kua http://leanpub.com/the-retrospective-handbook/c/DayAgainstDRM

Understanding the Four Rules of Simple Design by Corey Haines https://leanpub.com/4rulesofsimpledesign/c/DayAgainstDRM

Software Architecture for Developers by Simon Brown https://leanpub.com/software-architecture-for-developers/c/DayAgainstDRM2015

Patterns in C by Adam Tornhill https://leanpub.com/patternsinc/c/FreeAsBeer

I would also like to take this opportunity to set out Leanpub’s basic position on DRM.

First, we think that treating 100% of the legitimate buyers of a book like they are potential thieves is a bad thing. The relationship between a seller and a customer should be based on trust.

Second, putting DRM on ebooks is equivalent to printing a paper book in an invisible ink that only appears under an approved brand of light bulb. It is both unfair to the customer and inherently absurd.

Third, from the perspective of an author, getting your work out there is more important than trying to stop people from making copies of your work. Think about it: with DRM, you are actively trying to prevent people from reading your book. To be very clear, we are not being optimistic or precious about this. We have had ample experience at Leanpub with customers who have contacted us to try to pay the author even more, after they have finished reading a book, if they feel they paid too little when they first bought the book. More people reading your book is better for you, for your readers, for achieving whatever purpose you wrote the book for in the first place, and for the bottom line. The best practice in this industry is to waste no time, thought or resources at all on the business of piracy prevention, which is very different from the business of writing and publishing. Your time should be spent writing and publishing better books, and getting the word out to more people in a better way.

There’s more to the argument against DRM than that, of course. This guest post by two blind anti-DRM activists is just one example of the negative impact DRM can have on people. If you’re interested in learning more, a great place to start is http://www.defectivebydesign.org.

Len Epp
May 5, 2015

Originally published at leanpub.com.