Amazon Finally Steps on Page-Scraped eBooks

Kudos to Amazon (though it's far, far late coming) for finally pointing out the obvious:

Making eBooks that repackage freely accessible (but not public domain) web content are scams, and aren't okay to sell.

There's a specific kind of eBook fraud: "books quickly created from automatically gathered content crawled from the Web". It's taken a long time, but Amazon finally sent out an e-mail last night clarifying the content guidelines policy.

"...just because you find content on the web does not mean it is in the public domain. [...] We can’t accept content that closely matches content that is freely available on the web, for which you do not hold the sole publishing rights, or that which is not in the public domain."

Which is a good step. But hey, I wouldn't be me if I didn't point out the completely strange (and license-ignoring) justification for enforcing this policy:

"content from Wikipedia and content with private label rights are not allowed since it disappoints our customers to pay for content that is freely available on the web." [emphasis mine]

It's strange because they're focusing on a really ambiguous standard. Not "is it legal" or "does it break the ToS/ToU for the website" or "does it violate copyright"... but whether the reader is pissed off because what they bought was cheaper elsewhere.

This is an important distinction - especially since they're name-checking Wikipedia.

You can't just copy something from, say, Clarkesworld, because it's under copyright.  (There's a potential issue about "sole publishing rights" - for example, I retain anthology rights to the stories in The Crimson Pact, even when the exclusive period ends and the rest of the rights revert to the authors.)

Peter Watt's backlist is under a Creative Commons license. Specifically, a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license. So folks could take the text and convert it to whatever format, but are not allowed to sell it (the NonCommercial bit).

Wikipedia, however, is under (mostly) an Attribution-ShareAlike license. You can reuse the content in another work and sell it as long as you allow others to do the same with the file you created.  But Amazon's policy contradicts Wikipedia's own license, since you don't hold the sole publishing rights.

I hope Amazon is using the "pissed off customer" standard simply because Wikipedia-scraped eBooks just... well, feel scammy.

Even if they're technically legal.

Progeny - by R.T. Kaelin

My pal R.T. Kaelin (whom I will be seeing in a week at Origins Game Fair) currently has his novel Progeny (The Children of the White Lions) available as a free download for Kindle.

You might remember R.T. as one of the authors in the 2011 edition of Spec The Halls.  He's a great guy and able to put the good of the story before his own ego.  That alone, my friends, is worth directing you to this offer (which is only good through Friday).  Give this book a shot, and swing by the book's website at http://www.progenythebook.com/

You should be using a VPN on public wifi: Here's a recommendation

VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) have a bit of a bad rap among a lot of people I know.  Their office or university might require it, and it turns out to be slow, or buggy, or drops connections, and it's generally associated with annoyance.  Sure, it's more secure, but...

But nothing.  I recently had a password stolen via wi-fi snooping (seriously, that's the only way it could have been exposed), and while it only caused minor damage to my accounts, it was still startling.  While I've been using HTTPS whenever possible, obviously it wasn't enough.

At the same time, more and more public wifi places are blocking legitimate traffic (I wrote about one in January that's only gotten worse).  I can understand the justification for streaming media - but this blog?  Or my business site?

blackVPN solved both of those problems.  I discovered pretty quickly that more than one business offering "free wifi" blocked OpenVPN requests, especially for the big OpenVPN providers you constantly see recommended (like AnchorFree).  But they didn't block another VPN protocol:  L2TP/IPSEC.  Unlike many other VPN providers, blackVPN provides multiple protocols, even if you just use a single server at the lowest price tier... so now I can make sure my internet stuff is secure no matter what.

And unlike those work and university VPNs, blackVPN's service has been fast, stable, and worry-free security when I'm on the go.

blackVPN has clear setup instructions for and supports Windows, OSX, Linux, Android, and iOS.


The lowest price tier is five euros (about $3 right now) for a month - with no auto-recurring fees.  Use the referral code HBJSCFM when you sign up, and you can get up to two months free (and I get two weeks added onto my own.  But I'm recommending them anyway.) 

I've been using the service for about a month now with no problems and no regrets - and I'll definitely continue with them.  Check 'em out - even if it's just for your smartphone while you're out and about.

Who cares what kind of relationship anyone else is in?

In the spirit of "I'm done playing political games", this is a serious question:

Who cares what kind of relationship anyone else is in?

I've been arguing this since 1998 (Here Comes the Groom, Here Comes the Groom (Reprised)), and honestly, folks, I don't understand why this is still an issue.  (While this is phrased mostly about "gay marriage", it also applies to poly groups and other alternative relationships.)  Here's the objections I usually hear:

* It will have an economic impact because there's more married couples:  This is the only argument that makes sense - but if that's a bad thing, then why are there government (and private) initiatives to promote marriage? 

* My religion says...:   That's nice.  So people who are part of your faith don't participate in marriage equality.  For once, Catholicism is way ahead of the pack - because the Catholic Church doesn't automatically recognize a civil ceremony between two Catholics.  Getting married in the Church is a separate thing than a legal marriage.  Reform and change within any church is a separate matter than civil, legal issues.

* But my religion says it's a sin, so we should stop others from doing it:  Go find yourself a theocracy;  you're in the wrong country.  Your religious beliefs bind you, not a single person more.

* But it's gross:  Really?  There are so many straight people in relationships who I really, really don't want to imagine "doing it" that it's not funny.  Most of them probably think the same of me. 

* Traditional marriage is...:  There is no such solid institution.  Seriously, do some historical research.  It doesn't exist.  For example, the so-called "mail order brides" of the USAian frontier don't look anything like our modern courtship rituals.  Arranged marriages were the norm for most of human history.  The idea of romantic love being a part of marriage is a relatively new concept.  And, um, when you're talking about Biblical tradition, you've got to account for multiple wives (Moses), forcing a rape victim to marry her rapist (Deuteronomy 22:28-29 NLT), and being forced to marry your older brother's widow (Judah, Onan, and Tamar).  Not saying any of them are right;  I am saying that "tradition" isn't a compelling argument here.

*But then [insert form of marriage here] is possible:  And if it's between consenting adults, who cares?  (Both "adult" and "legal consent" are sufficiently well defined that I'm not going to do it again here.)

* But marriage is for producing children:  Are you saying that it should be illegal for infertile people to marry?  Because if so, fuck you.  Seriously.  Just go the hell away.

* But marriage is for raising children:  And?  What's the problem here?
* The kids will be teased/it will be harder for them: So we should discriminate against people because some other people will discriminate against them?  How does that logic work?
* Raising kids requires a man and a woman: There is no research to back this up.  And considering the number of completely messed-up kids raised by straight couples, I'm really not convinced.  I think a kid raised by an average gay couple would be much better off than a kid raised by two straight people in a dysfunctional relationship (let alone dysfunctional straight people in any relationship).
* Kids raised by gay parents will be gay as well:  Which is why homosexuals only come from homosexual parents... oh, wait.  Not true.  Whoops.

So I don't get it.  I don't understand why this is a governmental issue.  I don't understand why it's a political issue.  Someone explain to me why they believe it is good for our country to fight against marriage equality. 

Otherwise, I'm going to start presuming that people fighting marriage equality are fighting against the well-being of our country.

Go.  Comments are open.

(Note:  While comments are open, I secretly made a copy of John Scalzi's Mallet of Loving Correction, and may use it.  You've got your space, I've got mine.  Specious hate will be malleted, and moderation is turned on, so you might see a delay in your comment being posted.)

Analog Cuvée: Your Ears Need This

As some of you might know, I love me some mashups, especially when they pair traditional folk music and modern tunes. And I'm half Hungarian. So this THRILLS me...

Analog Cuvée
is a project of Pozsi & Basic that takes Hungarian music and throws in modern dance (drum and bass, electronica, even dubstep) with some amazing results. Here's two samples (one YouTube, one Soundcloud, so hopefully everyone can access at least one of them):

Magyar Tánc


Dalstep


If you like those, you'll love this album. You can get Analog Cuvée at Amazon (MP3 format, more samples there).

And then after that, you can get the free remixed version - Digital Cuvée