
How To Strip DRM from Kindle E-Books and Others - DanielRibeiro
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/01/how-to-strip-drm-from-kindle-e-books-and-others/
======
DanielBMarkham
I have started going back to real books for any book I might want to keep,
loan, or give to a friend when I'm finished. It would be nice not to be
screwed over by DRM yet again. I like my Kindle, but it doesn't help me read.
It helps Amazon make money. The only thing it does is for me is to help me
carry lots of books around easily.

~~~
bo1024
If your books have no DRM, how will DRM screw you over? Isn't that the point
of this posting?

~~~
DanBC
Some people are refusing to pay Amazon (or other providers) for DRMd content -
a boycott of anything with DRM.

Some people are not going to break any laws, even if those laws are mostly
technical and not going to be enforced. And providing means to remove DRM is
more problematic because the law is enforced a bit more rigorously there.

~~~
bo1024
My understanding is that removing DRM for personal use only is legal in the
US.

~~~
gizmo686
It is not. Section 1201 of the DMCA specifiys: "No person shall circumvent a
technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected
under this title."

There is an exception to users whose ability to make legal use of the
protected material is impeded, but only after the Librarian of Congress rules
that the given type of user of the given type of work qualifies for the above
exception.

The exception mentioned above also, explicitly, does not apply to the
following provision: "No person shall manufacture, import, offer to the
public, provide, or otherwise traffic in any technology, product, service,
device, component, or part thereof, that-- `(A) is primarily designed or
produced for the purpose of circumventing a technological measure that
effectively controls access to a work protected under this title; `(B) has
only limited commercially significant purpose or use other than to circumvent
a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected
under this title; or `(C) is marketed by that person or another acting in
concert with that person with that person's knowledge for use in circumventing
a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected
under this title."

[http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-
bin/query/F?c105:1:./temp/~c105hq5...](http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-
bin/query/F?c105:1:./temp/~c105hq5F7A:e11962):

~~~
bo1024
Interesting, then some of the news articles I've read on this are incorrect.

------
oneandoneis2
Since I disapprove of Amazon's DRM policy, the only books on my kindle are
tech books from O'Reilly (DRM-free) and fiction from Project Gutenburg (DRM-
free)

I know I _could_ download ebooks from Amazon and just remove their DRM, but I
think it's better to vote with my wallet.

After all, they sell the Kindle at cost and rely on you buying books from them
to make any profit. So don't buy their books and maybe they'll learn..

~~~
RexRollman
Some books on Amazon are DRM free. The publisher is the one who decides if
they want to use it.

~~~
listic
How do you see which books are DRM-free before purchase?

~~~
noste
At least some books mention that "At the publisher's request, this title is
being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied." in the
book description field. For example: [http://www.amazon.com/Pirate-Cinema-
ebook/dp/B0089LOEBS/ref=...](http://www.amazon.com/Pirate-Cinema-
ebook/dp/B0089LOEBS/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1351023851&sr=1-2)

~~~
donniezazen
Is there a way to tell if this book has DRM?

[http://www.amazon.com/Neuroscience-Exploring-the-Brain-
ebook...](http://www.amazon.com/Neuroscience-Exploring-the-Brain-
ebook/dp/B008QWSV2S/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-
text&ie=UTF8&qid=1351042693&sr=1-1&keywords=neuroscience+exploring+the+brain)

~~~
jbrechtel
Yes. This part in the details section:

"Simultaneous Device Usage: Up to 4 simultaneous devices, per publisher
limits"

means that it has DRM.

------
DanBC
The Wired link adds nothing. They link to
([http://apprenticealf.wordpress.com/2011/01/13/ebooks-
formats...](http://apprenticealf.wordpress.com/2011/01/13/ebooks-formats-drm-
and-you-%E2%80%94-a-guide-for-the-perplexed/))

~~~
cynwoody
I disagree.

Wired's nice little introduction will make more people aware that they don't
have to put up with DRM.

Wired's attention will also make it easier to find definitive info on DRM
removal. When I'm not looking for anything in particular, I look at sites like
Wired. But when I want to know how to do something specific, I go straight to
Google. And Wired's story will boost Apprentice Alf's search ranking, making
the solution that much easier to find for folks tired of DRM.

~~~
DanBC
"The Wired link adds no value for the readers of HN, apart from a tl;dr".

~~~
tomrod
I disagree--I learned something.

~~~
DanBC
What extra information did the Wired link add over the page that Wired link
to?

([http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/01/how-to-strip-drm-
from...](http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/01/how-to-strip-drm-from-kindle-
e-books-and-others/))

([http://apprenticealf.wordpress.com/2012/09/10/drm-removal-
to...](http://apprenticealf.wordpress.com/2012/09/10/drm-removal-tools-for-
ebooks/))

~~~
tomrod
Perhaps not information, but the fact it's reposted on Wired means the article
has a larger audience (at least by one--me).

------
RexRollman
The real problem is there is nothing that requires companies to provide
continued access to DRM-encumbered media; they can turn it off whenever they
want.

In my opinion, if a company can't or won't provide a way for a customer to
access their purchased files, then they should be required by law to provide a
way for the customer to un-DRM those files.

~~~
jiggy2011
I would think that the problem is that one of the reasons people like Amazon
want to use DRM is to ensure that no DRM free copies of the media exist. One
DRM-free copy can multiply into 1 million DRM free copies very quickly.

Of course in reality this is laughably unworkable unless they release a future
version of the kindle which _requires_ DRMd media.

------
cadab
I found this link to be more helpful, in regards to what plugins to use. (Note
for Windows + Kindle)

[http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2012/06/15/how-add-
kindle-...](http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2012/06/15/how-add-kindle-drm-
removal-plugin-calibre/)

~~~
zokier
At least that is 18 months more recent, that should help a bit.

------
Derbasti
Frankly, I don't care about DRM for fiction. I generally only read fiction
once, anyway (and donate the paper book afterwards).

For technical books it's a different story, but then the Kindle is not a
medium that works well for diagrams and special formatting that you would
expect in technical writing.

So in the end, Kindle DRM does not hurt me much. Then again, it is so easy to
strip that I think Amazon does not care, either. It's just a pacifier for
publishers.

~~~
aik
There's a 3rd category: non-fiction that doesn't necessarily require diagrams.
For this category, ebooks are great in the sense that I can add highlighting
and notes very easily. For me this is the largest category of books and so DRM
scares me. It also scares me that the highlights and notes are not owned by
me. I wonder if I can somehow retrieve all of them?

------
danso
Does removing the DRM also remove the highlight tracking/syncing provided by
Amazon? If so, that'd be a deal breaker for me to use this other than as last
resort backups

~~~
fab13n
No it doesn't. You reload DRM-stripped books on the device, as if it had never
been bought from Amazon.

Don't forget that DRMs aren't here to save Amazon from piracy. Today and for
the next couple of years, what they really care about is securing a dominant
position. So the DRM security only needs to be good enough to reassure
clueless edition managers, who believe that DRM will help their business
rather than hurt it. So they have no incentive to get out of their way to bug
DRM-stripping customers (in light of which, I'd guess some of the morons who
handled Linn Nygaard's case will be fired, and deservedly so).

Same as iTunes DRM actually, which Apple ended up discarding once they were in
a position to tell the music editor to just shut up.

~~~
danso
> _No it doesn't. You reload DRM-stripped books on the device, as if it had
> never been bought from Amazon._

Yeah that's the issue...From what I can tell, Amazon differentiates between
both and I imagine that would affect how its central database of
highlights/bookmarkings keeps track of each individual book. I suppose this
would affect you only if you were highlighting a DRM book and then stripped
the DRM...which I guess is mostly an edge case.

~~~
TeMPOraL
From what I saw on my own Kindle, there's no "central database of
highlights/bookmarkings"; it's stored per book in new files Kindle create next
to each book.

------
CookWithMe
He publicly admitted that he cracks his ebooks. IANAL, but his missteps would
be much easier to proof in court, compared to the case of the Norwegian kindle
user.

But for some reason, I strongly doubt Amazon will ban him...

~~~
tspiteri
_But for some reason, I strongly doubt Amazon will ban him..._

And the point is that even if they ban him and try to delete his library, they
will fail because he has backups without DRM.

------
gizmo686
With respect to the conversations about the legality of stripping the DRM from
e-books (in the USA). I just looked up the Librian of Congress's 2010 DMCA
statement, where it is stated that one of the classes works which qualify for
exception from the no disabling DRM clause of the DMCA is:

"Literary works distributed in ebook format when all existing ebook editions
of the work (including digital text editions made available by authorized
entities) contain access controls that prevent the enabling either of the
book’s read-aloud function or of screen readers that render the text into a
specialized format."

I suspect that it is in error, but this excemption does not specify that the
reason for disabling DRM is to use it for one of the mentioned purposes, only
that stripping DRM would be nessasary for the mentioned purposes. The lack of
enforcement probably makes this a moot point, but if all of a e-book's
versions have DRM, and you get in trouble for stripping the DRM off, this
would probably hold up as a solid technicality.

Granted, it is still illegal to distribute software designed to aid people in
lawfully stripping DRM from e-books.

Source: [http://www.copyright.gov/1201/2010/Librarian-of-
Congress-120...](http://www.copyright.gov/1201/2010/Librarian-of-
Congress-1201-Statement.html)

------
edufernandez
Any good command line tool for doing this?

~~~
atopuzov
They are included in the tools zip

------
incision
I've always just sort of tolerated the Kindle.

Lately I've been doing most of my reading via Safari. I pay for the "library"
level plan and feel it's worth every penny, in spite of the horrendous mobile
app. Every few months, I spend Safari token on an ePub copy of something
particularly good.

I'd like to see all publishers offer the option to purchase a print + DRM-free
digital copy for not much more than print alone just as O'Reilly and Pearson
do today.

------
ansible
Sadly, I would be glad to pay a reasonable price for books without DRM, but my
options are still quite limited. I've been waiting patiently for Tor's ebook
store to open (promised "by the end of summer 2012"). Baen is fine for a
couple genres, but I don't trust Smashwords because of sockpuppet reviews. I
don't want to pirate, I am glad to give authors their fair share.

~~~
acabal
Baen also has a problem with OCR'd text. I downloaded a Greg Bear book from
them a few weeks ago and it was clearly OCR'd without a second look towards
quality. It had so many typos and spelling errors that it was practically
unreadable. I returned it for a refund.

To be fair Amazon also has this problem. It's hard being an ebook consumer
when 90% of books either have DRM or are unreadably OCR'd.

~~~
bruceboughton
I've never experienced this with Amazon. Presumably it is a publisher problem,
not a retailer problem. What publishers have you experienced this with?

~~~
acabal
It's endemic in the industry. With a few exceptions, try downloading any book
printed before, say, the year 2000. A good example is the Kindle copy of Dune
that Amazon sells. Spend $15 ( _$3 more than having the print version
delivered to your doorstep!_ ) on one of the most famous science fiction books
of all time only to find that it's riddled with spelling errors, grammar
errors, and word omissions. (Or just read the Amazon reviews that tell you as
much.)

Another good example is the older Dark Tower books. I bought book 3 a year ago
and it was in the same unreadable state. I also returned it for a refund.

New books aren't a problem, they're designed with ebooks in mind. It's just
older books that the publisher quickly OCR'd and spammed Amazon with to make a
quick buck.

------
makmanalp
All you lawyers: Is removing / tampering with Kindle DRM legal in this case?
Considering we bought the material?

~~~
bduerst
It all comes down to the end user agreement you agree to when purchasing the
ebook. Content providers are within their right to define how they want their
copyrighted works to be used - though a judge could potentially throw out the
end user agreement in court.

So, if Amazon stipulates that you should not tamper with or remove the DRM
from the ebook, it's a violation of your purchase agreement if you do.

Basically, you agree to not remove the DRM when you pay them for their
content. The only legal alternative is to not buy from them.

~~~
shmerl
EULAs can't override laws. Even if you break the EULA for legitimate purpose -
you aren't necessarily breaking any laws.

~~~
bduerst
Nobody said anything about _breaking laws_.

EULAs are technically _legally binding_ contracts, and breaking them leaves
you liable in civil court.

~~~
shmerl
Point is, EULA can't even restrict you for civil cases if it contradicts your
rights. But that can vary from country to country.

~~~
bduerst
And also state to state, which is why I said pending a Judge doesn't throw it
out.

------
runjake
This is from 2011 and hugely outdated. As far as I'm aware, the newer Topaz
Kindle format hasn't been cracked and thus the DRM cannot be stripped. It's
been a long time since I've bought a book that wasn't Topaz-imprisoned.

~~~
lemming
This is not true. Topaz is a scanned, PDF like format that Amazon uses for
older books where for whatever reason they can't get a digital copy. While
it's true that Topaz books can't have the DRM easily removed, only around 5%
of Amazon's books are in this format.

------
ixacto
<http://thepiratebay.se/browse/601> \+ a spiral binder + a laser printer.

Knowledge should be free.

