[nfbcs] National Federation of the Blind Responds to AuthorsGuild Statement on the Amazon Kindle 2

Sat Feb 14 03:33:25 UTC 2009

Howdy, everyone,

 I read through the Authors' Guild article and the part that stuck out for
me is at the end where they state that the Kindle is not intended for "use
by the visually impaired".  I didn't realize it was mandatory for us blind
to use only specialized equipment...that's usually months (if not years)
behind the mainstream commercial counterparts, haphazardly put together, and
10, 20, 30 or more times as expensive.  Here's Google, making what appears
to be a good faith effort to let us share tech with the general public, yet
there's someone out there trying to hold us back in the name of the Almighty
Dollar.......

Sorry, I'm off the soapbox now.

Ryan Stevens

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of E.J. Zufelt
Sent: Friday, February 13, 2009 8:27 AM
To: NFBnet NFBCS Mailing List
Subject: Re: [nfbcs] National Federation of the Blind Responds to
AuthorsGuild Statement on the Amazon Kindle 2

Good morning,

The URL for the article on the Authors Guild site is:

http://www.authorsguild.org/advocacy/articles/e-book-rights-alert-amazons-ki
ndle-2.html

HTH,
Everett

On 13-Feb-09, at 4:41 AM, Darrell Shandrow wrote:

> How can we learn more about the original Author's Guild statement?  
> Does
> anyone have a link to it?
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Freeh,Jessica (by way of David Andrews <dandrews at visi.com>)"
> <JFreeh at nfb.org>
> To: <david.andrews at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2009 8:38 PM
> Subject: [nfbcs] National Federation of the Blind Responds to Authors 
> Guild Statement on the Amazon Kindle 2
>
>
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
> CONTACT:
> Chris Danielsen
> Director of Public Relations
> National Federation of the Blind
> (410) 659-9314, extension 2330
> (410) 262-1281 (Cell)
> <mailto:cdanielsen at nfb.org>cdanielsen at nfb.org
>
> National Federation of the Blind Responds to Authors Guild Statement 
> on the Amazon Kindle 2
>
> Baltimore, Maryland (February 12, 2009): The National Federation of 
> the Blind, the largest organization of blind people in the United 
> States, today responded to a statement put out by the Authors Guild 
> advising its members to consider negotiating contracts prohibiting 
> e-books to be read aloud by the new Amazon Kindle 2, which 
> incorporates text-to-speech technology. The Authors Guild argues that 
> the reading of a book out loud by a machine is a copyright 
> infringement unless the copyright holder has specifically granted 
> permission for the book to be read aloud.
>
> Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind,
> said: "The National Federation of the Blind supports all technologies 
> that allow blind people to have better access to the printed word, 
> including the ability of devices like the Kindle 2 to read commercial 
> e-books aloud using text-to-speech technology. Although the Authors 
> Guild claims that it supports making books accessible to the blind, 
> its position on the inclusion of text-to-speech technology in the 
> Kindle 2 is harmful to blind people. The Authors Guild says that 
> having a book read aloud by a machine in the privacy of one's home or 
> vehicle is a copyright infringement. But blind people routinely use 
> readers, either human or machine, to access books that are not 
> available in alternative formats like Braille or audio. Up until now, 
> no one has argued that this is illegal, but now the Authors Guild says 
> that it is. This is absolutely wrong. The blind and other readers have 
> the right for books to be presented to us in the format that is most 
> useful to us, and we are not violating copyright law as long as we use 
> readers, either human or machine, for private rather than public 
> listening. The key point is that reading aloud in private is the same 
> whether done by a person or a machine, and reading aloud in private is 
> never an infringement of copyright.
>
> "Amazon has taken a step in the right direction by including 
> text-to-speech technology for reading e-books aloud on its new Kindle 
> 2," Dr. Maurer continued. "We note, however, that the device itself 
> cannot be used independently by a blind reader because the controls to 
> download a book and begin reading it aloud are visual and therefore 
> inaccessible to the blind. We urge Amazon to rectify this situation as 
> soon as possible in order to make the Kindle 2 a device that truly can 
> be used both by blind and sighted readers. By doing so, Amazon will 
> make it possible for blind people to purchase a new book and begin 
> reading it immediately, just as sighted people do."
>
>
>
> ###
>
>
>
> About the National Federation of the Blind
>
> With more than 50,000 members, the National Federation of the Blind is 
> the largest and most influential membership organization of blind 
> people in the United States. The NFB improves blind people's lives 
> through advocacy, education, research, technology, and programs 
> encouraging independence and self-confidence. It is the leading force 
> in the blindness field today and the voice of the nation's blind. In 
> January 2004 the NFB opened the National Federation of the Blind 
> Jernigan Institute, the first research and training center in the 
> United States for the blind led by the blind.
>
>
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