DRM aims to Rewrite eBooks to catch Pirates

God forbid we would hope to see new technologies facilitate the way for content to reach more people than ever. Today we see parties worrying about locking down digital content in a way that it gets even more restrictive than previous forms, like books and its newer eBook digital format. While you could once do whatever you wanted with an actual book, with an eBook things become trickier... Sometimes you can't even lend it to a friend; other times you don't have the "authorization" to have your eBook reader read it aloud using text-to-speech systems. Unless you do what most people are finally forced to do... and use "pirated" copies of the eBooks they legally bought so they can have the freedom to use them as they please.

Now, things are getting ever crazier, and there are people wasting resources figuring out ways to make things even weirder for readers. Their last proposal: a way to track down which customer pirated a copy on the internet, by slightly modifying each ebook in order to create a unique traceable version. That means that a book selling millions of copies will end up having millions of tiny variations, not one being the same as the next.

Though I may imagine some writers not caring about it as long as they get paid; I can also think about many that won't like their life's work being automatically tweaked away by such system. Who's to say those tiny variations don't ruin the precise feeling the writer wanted to convey?

And even if such a system gets greenlighted and put in use - does anyone, in their right mind, really think it will stop or deter piracy? Hackers and crackers strive on beating down much more complex protection schemes implemented in games and software; do they think their "word replacement" method will offer any kind of challenge to them? Heck.. I could even figure out something in a couple of minutes, randomly replacing some words by other, potentially making "my copy" look like "someone else's" copy and leaving them to deal with the copyright police when they tracked them down.

And talking about stupid DRM ideas, I would suggest applying this same concept to movies... each of use should be entitled to have a specific and different movie. Maybe I could get an Avatar movie where instead of blue aliens I can have green ones? Hey, if that ever happens I want you to know I have copyrights on that idea!