[Nfb-web] Make a call

[Peter Donahue]

Hello Mark  and listers,

    Those people just got an ear-full from me. The gentleman I talked to 
said that he understood what I was saying. I told him that the Authors Guild 
needs to prove it,. And now back to our regular Webalizing program.

Peter Donahue

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Senk, Mark J. (CDC/NIOSH/NPPTL)" <zia7 at cdc.gov>
To: "NFB Webmaster's List" <nfb-web at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 6:05 AM
Subject: Re: [Nfb-web] Make a call


Those who phoned and gave an email got this statement from the Authors
Guild.


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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