From: "Jim Stevenson" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, December 27, 2003 12:51 PM

> Under what condissions is it legal for blind readers to exchange
scanned books?

**As individuals, none.  However, the individual could establish a
non-profit with a particular sanctioned purpose and it would be legal.

> Are such laws really inforced if it is strictly for individual use?

**No, not at all.  The issue is that the copyright law exemption applies
to organizations not individuals.  However, if one blind person shares a
scanned or recorded book with another blind person it would be folly to
sue the individual for a copyright violation.  If it was a scanned book,
the court would likely recognize the lack of direct access as well as the
fact that the copyright holder was not damaged.  If the copyright holder
is a major book publisher, the publicity and protest surrounding the
lawsuit of a blind person who transmitted a single scanned book to
another single blind individual would be something they would not want.

> Are there data bases of scanned books?

**Yes, there is the bookshare.org service.


> What are the best ocr programs for complex mathematical notation?

**Screen readers do not natively handle mathamatical symbols.  After a
math-related book has been scanned, it usually needs to be processed and
used with a math-related program for the blind, such as Triangle
discussed earlier in this space.

Kelly


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