How to protect my exe e-book from piracy?

[DrLynx]

I am planning to write a e-book and compile it as an exe.

Now, what all are my options now to protect my e-book from illegal copying/distributing?

From freeware to the most expensive possible.

Please tell me all the options possible.

Thanks a ton!

 

[n0cmonkey]

Don't release it.

 

[DrLynx]

Okay. What else?

 

[Drakkon]

publishers have the technology availible...whoever you publish with will be able to do this, and if they dont, dont publish your book through them

 

[DrLynx]

Nope. I am publishing it myself.

 

[0roo0roo]

just publish it. the wide variety of formats and fact that people dislike actually reading ebooks will prevent actual piracy. now piracy where people download things just so they can have a collection they will most probably never read is not going to be preventable. pretty much all the ebook formats copy protection is broken. its just how it is.

 

[DrLynx]

But atleast I should make an attempt at protecting it a bit right?

 

[stnicralisk]

Originally posted by: DrLynx
But atleast I should make an attempt at protecting it a bit right?

You could set up a server and create a DLL file that checks the server when they open the ebook and give them a specific code and should the code be used on two different IPs the ebook is deleted. It would be complicated and constraining and generally not worth your time but as far as copy protection for a file that is downloadable I wonder if you realize that even large companies havent been successful in this. The roleplaying pdfs available online are pirated constantly (NOT THAT I WOULD KNOW

 

[DrLynx]

stnicralisk,

Is there a software program that would create such a wrapper for my final exe file?

Thanks.

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: stnicralisk

Originally posted by: DrLynx
But atleast I should make an attempt at protecting it a bit right?

You could set up a server and create a DLL file that checks the server when they open the ebook and give them a specific code and should the code be used on two different IPs the ebook is deleted. It would be complicated and constraining and generally not worth your time but as far as copy protection for a file that is downloadable I wonder if you realize that even large companies havent been successful in this. The roleplaying pdfs available online are pirated constantly (NOT THAT I WOULD KNOW

I have a dynamic IP and so do many people.

 

[kamper]

Protecting digital media is a bit silly, imho. With software at least, you can program logic to make things not work if you don't detect proper authorization, although that can always be hacked somehow. With media, it's essentially impossible to do properly. You're allowing other people to have this information on their own computers in some form, there's just no way to guarantee that they can't misuse it. The only thing you can do is try to make it as inconvenient as possible (and I realize that's what you're trying to do) but I just don't think it's a good business model.

 

[dukdukgoos]

Don't even bother. Any protection can (and is) cracked almost immediately after it's released. Instead, maybe use the fact that it's not copy-protected and part of your marketing, and ask for donations for the book.

 

[Velk]

Books can't be DRMed in any effective manner as people have to actually be able to read them. Physical paper books are regularly scanned into RTF documents when people feel the urge to pirate them, and any electronic book format, even if it was 100% perfectly uncrackable ( which none are ), can easily be copied and OCR'ed by someone hitting alt-print screen on each page.

Your best protection is people not being interested in reading your ebook, which is sort of counterproductive. Failing that, take a look at www.microsoft.com/reader and www.mobipocket.com.

 

[bersl2]

DRM is no good.

If you want to make money, gain a readership first.

 

[DrLynx]

Originally posted by: Lonyo

Originally posted by: stnicralisk

Originally posted by: DrLynx
But atleast I should make an attempt at protecting it a bit right?

You could set up a server and create a DLL file that checks the server when they open the ebook and give them a specific code and should the code be used on two different IPs the ebook is deleted. It would be complicated and constraining and generally not worth your time but as far as copy protection for a file that is downloadable I wonder if you realize that even large companies havent been successful in this. The roleplaying pdfs available online are pirated constantly (NOT THAT I WOULD KNOW

But whatever site I'll be hosting... That will have a static ip right?
I have a dynamic IP and so do many people.

 

[DrLynx]

Okay, all. I agree that it is impossible to protect software leave alone digital media. I am not talking about those who crack for the fun of it. But, normal people who buy my book, I don't want them to unnecessarily (and easily) send them over email to their friends and relatives, and them sending it again, and so on.

That's all. I just want a simple protection, which won't change the convinience of the readers much.

Thanks. The DLL concept seems a good idea, but how do I implement it?

 

[bersl2]

Originally posted by: DrLynx
But, normal people who buy my book, I don't want them to unnecessarily (and easily) send them over email to their friends and relatives, and them sending it again, and so on.

<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html">For Dan Halbert, the road to Tycho began in college--when Lissa Lenz asked to borrow his computer. Hers had broken down, and unless she could borrow another, she would fail her midterm project. There was no one she dared ask, except Dan.

This put Dan in a dilemma. He had to help her--but if he lent her his computer, she might read his books. Aside from the fact that you could go to prison for many years for letting someone else read your books, the very idea shocked him at first. Like everyone, he had been taught since elementary school that sharing books was nasty and wrong--something that only pirates would do.</a>

Yes, I'm probably overreacting by invoking rms (and a minorly cliched passage of his at that) in this instance. But please consider that the entire point to a book is to share some kind of knowledge in an easy way. Give that last quoted sentence a thought: don't imply even for a moment that sharing a book is somehow wrong, even if the primary distribution method is digital when what I speak of usually applies to a physical object with a natural locking mechanism on the information.

 

[Nothinman]

That's all. I just want a simple protection, which won't change the convinience of the readers much.

All copy protection is an inconvenience to the honest user and won't really be noticed by those who want to pirate your work. All you'll do is end up pissing off prospective buyers or those that didn't realize you had implemented some form of DRM until after they bought it. In the end it comes to the fact that those that want to buy your book will and those that won't, won't. You could probably just get away with putting the thing on a secure web site, get some service to do credit card purchases and give them the book in HTML or unencrypted PDF format.

And, just a guess since I have no idea what kind of rate you would bill your time at nor how much this protection system will cost you on top of your time, but you could very well end up spending more money and time attempting to protect the book than you'll make off of the book's sales.