Protesting the Authors Guild
Protesters are hitting the streets today to face the Authors Guild -- or at least the its building -- head on.
The National Federation of the Blind, which is based in Baltimore, is busing hundreds of people up to New York City to join the Reading Rights Coalition's protest of the new restrictions on the text-to-speech function on Amazon's Kindle 2.
Last month, Amazon allowed the publishing houses to disable the function on a case-by-case basis, after the Authors Guild argued that the device was meant for e-books, not audio books. They maintain that copyright was infringed when the two formats were used in one device.
But the change in policy means that many disabled readers may now lose access to their books.
“[Amazon] had initially said that it was going to be offered for free," NFB spokesman Scott Carman said of Amazon's decision to give the publishing houses and authors final say in the use of the function. "And now this has been taken away from [the readers].”
Dr. Marc Mauer, president of the NFB, said that as many as 15 million Americans could be affected by this policy change.
As to the Authors Guild's claim of copyright infringement, "The copyright people we've talked to say copyright is copyright," regardless of format, Mauer said in a phone interview yesterday.
Mauer expects 200 to 300 people at the event, but the group has support worldwide. The organization has heard from people from the Philippines, South Africa and throughout Europe, and more than 2,000 people have signed an online petition to speak out against Amazon's policy change.
Mauer says the Authors Guild president has declined to speak at today's protest, which will be held from noon to 2 p.m. at the guild's headquarters.
Comments
I went to this demonstration at the Authors Guild. I thought it was a terrific and effective 'performance' (music, talks, chants, etc.). I'd estimate the crowd at several hundred. I had planned on staying for only a few minutes, but I ended up being there for the two hours, because I was so entertained. There were a lot of speakers from all the different organizations, but they each spoke for only a minute or two and then the music and chanting continued. Most (although not all) of the speakers were sight-impaired in some way. Maybe that partially explains why they were such good speakers. They have learned to use their voices so effectively.
The overall message was NOT "Poor us; we want to listen to your books." Instead, it was more like: "We demand access to ebooks, and we won't stop until we get it. We're a big part of the market, and YOU need our business." I was very impressed by that positive, confident, businesslike attitude.
In the flyer provided at the demonstration, twenty-five organizations are listed as part of the Reading Rights Coalition. Although a number of them specifically relate to blindness, a number of them don't; for example, the International Dyslexia Association and the National Spinal Cord Injury Association. It made me realize how many people really NEED the text-to-speech feature for ebooks.
I'm looking at the first two lines on the flyer: "No Need for Greed; We want to Read!" I think this is a no-win situation for the Authors Guild. They might as well wave the flag of surrender right now.
Posted by: Gail Farrelly | April 8, 2009 12:18 PM
perhaps there should be an option to buy the book without audio and then buy the book with audio and charge a little more for the audio. perhaps give the disabled a discount or have a discount program...
Posted by: Jenna Ahern | April 8, 2009 12:20 PM