[Blindtlk] Explaining why copyright law supports NFB not AuthorsGuild

[Gary Wunder]

I think this is a good explanation except you don't get OCR with this 
device. You get text-to-speech. There is no recognition of the print shapes 
and identifying them as letters - merely the taking of what is already 
computerized text and verbalizing it. I like the points though - if I buy a 
print book, I can have anyone read it to me, even if that anyone happens to 
be the computer I'm paying off month by month.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rovig, Lorraine" <LRovig at nfb.org>
To: "NFBnet Blind Talk Mailing List" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 9:33 AM
Subject: [Blindtlk] Explaining why copyright law supports NFB not 
AuthorsGuild


> I've been thinking about how best to explain to folks that blind persons
> and others have a right to read through OCR software on the Kindle 2
> without sounding like I'm saying blind persons deserve free stuff just
> because they are blind and, no, we are not taking bread out the mouths
> of authors. As I understand it, the law supports NFB's position. Here's
> what I say...
>
> Blind persons, dyslexic persons, and others who cannot read print,
> currently need and use OCR software to read print they have downloaded
> to their computers.  The Kindle 2 is a computer with already built-in
> OCR software. Non-print readers hunger for the mega-library from which
> one can buy books through Amazon.com (via the Kindle 2 and its one-click
> online shopping feature).  As the protest in New York showed, blind
> readers and others who use OCR software will buy books and a Kindle
> (once it is updated to permit blind access to the controls, which Amazon
> says it will do).  There is no downside to the authors' wallets.
> Actually, they would sell many more books. Arguments from the Authors
> Guild about OCR-read books not being covered "in the contract" which
> authors have with publishers does not hold because the copyright law
> permits "private performance" of print materials.  Once you have bought
> a book, you may read the print yourself or have another read it to you.
> Today this other person may actually be OCR software.  Recorded books
> are a "different" version of a book and are covered by contract.  OCR
> software is the same book through mechanical means. It appears the
> Authors Guild has gotten incorrect advice from its lawyers on how to
> help the best-selling authors, the top 10 percent of whose books get put
> into recorded formats.  The other 90 percent of authors who are lucky to
> have their book sell in print will miss sales they could get if Kindle
> 2's OCR was encouraged.   Say...What is that word for the unimaginative
> people who thought smashing newly invented machines would prevent the
> Industrial Revolution?
>
> Cordially,
>
> Lorraine Rovig
>
>
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