Why do we not use DRM (Digital Rights Management)

DRM (Digital Rights Management) refers to a set of access control technologies used by some publishing houses and other digital content providers to limit the access to said contents.

Our books are DRM free. Runa Press is against its use because we think that they limit the consumer right to use the contents for which they have paid. We want our books to be used in the reader's device of choice, with no other restriction than the format of the file they have been distributed in (which we will increase in the future).

As other organizations that defend consumers' (or readers') freedom, we think that DRM limits a set of rights, such as free access to culture, privacy rights, the right to make personal copies, public domain when the time comes and presumption of innocence, among others.

We oppose to DRM for the following reasons:

• DRM is just an obstacle to copy digital contents. This mechanism or any other in the future will not prevent that knowledgeable and motivated persons break the technology used to avoid access. Once the block is broken, the content will be free for distribution. DRM is not an unsurpassable hindrance for the digital copy, just a small obstacle.
• DRM involves an overhead cost in production and also serves to protect many other overhead costs that the consumer is forced to pay if they want to use the content. But those overhead costs are not an advantage to the consumer or to the creator, but to the executives of large companies and their shareholders.
• DRM is the content blocking technology which is used in the present, but no-one can guarantee that it will be the technology used by future devices. What will happen to the content you have bought today if tomorrow the devices do not support DRM? That you will have to pay again for those contents if you want to keep on using them. Remember when you bought the vinil record of 'The Dark Side of the Moon'? If you already paid the rights then, why do you have to pay them again when you buy the record in digital format? How does that benefit the consumer?
• DRM makes the control of the contents that reside in the consumer's device to be in the hands of the controller of the rights, not yours. The controller may delete contents from the device or prevent them to be accessible. You could buy a paper book and lend it, give it as a gift or resell it. DRM prevents you from doing that with a digital content. You pay for your right to use, not to own.
• A device which is using DRM is working for the controller of the rights, not for its proprietor. Naturally, it is the proprietor who has to pay for that control, both when buying the device and when buying the digital contents.

Thank you for buying DRM-free books.