agreed.
On Apr 8, 2009, at 3:24 PM, Sun Sounds of Arizona wrote:
The basic problem with the position of the Authors Guild is that they
insist on viewing this as "audio rights" which it is not. Audio
rights have to do with the performance of a book, read in audio form
by a reader or performer. The Kindle is merely using a "audio
display" rather than a "video display". There is no performance. The
totally digital book is merely being "displayed" in an audio form.
There logic would mean that they also have rights being violated by
every person who views the digital text on a screen. Why aren't those
considered video rights? Because it is not a video rights issue, it
is just a video display for the material. People have to have some
way to "view" or "hear" the digital text. Next, they'll want to
package "tactile rights" for anyone with a refreshable Braille
display. It is a display for Pete's sake, not audio!
Bill
From: Visually Impaired Computer Users' Group List [mailto:[log in to unmask]
] On Behalf Of Harry Brown
Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2009 9:50 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [VICUG-L] response back from the authors guild, what do you
all think?
Hi All,
I called the authors guild, and here's what I got back from them.
What do you all think of this? Forward what I got back to the folks
at the readers rights coalition, if you've got their email, so they
can see this.
Harry, PS, the response to my email is below.
Dear Harry,
Thank you for your phone call today. We issued the following
statement today in response to the protest:
Authors want everyone to read their books. That's why the Authors
Guild, and authors generally, are strong advocates for making all
books, including e-books, accessible to everyone. This is not a new
position for us. For decades, we've informed new authors that the
expected and proper thing to do is to donate rights so that their
works can be accessible to the blind and others. In October, we were
praised by the National Federation of the Blind for the settlement of
our lawsuit against Google, which promises "to revolutionize blind
people's access to books," according to the Federation's press release.
E-books do not come bundled with audio rights. So we proposed to the
Federation several weeks ago the only lawful and speedy path to make e-
books accessible to the print disabled on Amazon's Kindle:
1. The first step is to take advantage of a special exception to the
Copyright Act known as the Chafee Amendment, which permits the blind
and others with certified physical print disabilities access to
special versions, including audio versions, of copyrighted books.
Technology makes this step easy: certified users of existing Kindles
could activate their devices online to enable access to voice-output
versions of all e-books. This process could be ready to go within
weeks.
2. Since step one would help only those with sufficient eyesight to
navigate the current Kindle, we encourage Amazon or another e-book
device manufacturer to make an e-book device with voice output
capability that would be truly blind-accessible, with a Braille
keyboard and audible menu commands.
3. Finally, we need to amend existing book contracts to allow voice-
output access to others, including those with learning disabilities,
that don't qualify for special treatment under the Chafee Amendment.
There's no getting around the need to amend contracts: for the past
16 years, standard publishing contracts with most major trade
publishers do not permit publishers to sell e-books bundled with audio
rights. Fortunately, publishing contracts are amendable, and can
(once terms have been negotiated) be handled in a systematic fashion.
The Authors Guild will gladly be a forceful advocate for amending
contracts to provide access to voice-output technology to everyone.
We will not, however, surrender our members' economic rights to Amazon
or anyone else. The leap to digital has been brutal for print media
generally, and the economics of the transition from print to e-books
do not look as promising as many assume. Authors can't afford to
start this transition to digital by abandoning rights.
Knowing how difficult the road ahead is for the already fragile
economics of authorship, we are particularly troubled at how all this
arose, with Amazon attempting to use authors' audio rights to lengthen
its lead in the fledgling e-book industry. We could not allow this
rights grab to happen. Audio books are a billion dollar market, the
rights for which are packaged separately from -- and are far more
valuable than -- e-book rights.
That said, our support for access by all disabled readers is
steadfast, and we know how to make it happen. The Federation rightly
heralded the settlement in Authors Guild v. Google. That class-action
settlement represents a quantum leap in accessibility to books for the
disabled. It will, if approved, make far more books than ever before,
potentially tens of millions of out-of-print books, accessible to not
only the blind, but to people with any type of print disability.
Through the Google settlement, we have a solution for out-of-print
book accessibility. We're confident we can arrive at a solution for
in-print books as well.
Today's protest is unfortunate and unnecessary. We stand by our
offer, first made to the Federation's lawyer a month ago and repeated
several times since, to negotiate in good faith to reach a solution
for making in-print e-books accessible to everyone. We extend that
same offer to any group representing the disabled.
---------------
Feel free to contact the office if you have any questions or would
like further information.
The Authors Guild
31 East 32nd St., 7th Floor
New York, NY 10016
212-563-5904; fax: 212-564-5363
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