this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2024
126 points (70.3% liked)
Technology
74012 readers
3448 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
It needs an internet connection for the initial download and DRM check, but then you can go offline. So it doesn't need a constant internet connection, only when you want to load new books onto it. I'll have books on hold and checked out between times I access the internet to load books on (so I'll load a few, go offline, once I'm done go online and fetch the books I've checked out in the meantime).
I have no issue w/ my eReader being online occasionally to fetch updates or get new books.
And for me, I honestly don't care too much if Libby knows what I read. If I did care, I'd just get DRM-free books, either legally or not, and bypass the library entirely.
I'm having trouble following. If you check a book out at the library, the library has a record that you checked it out, no? So the only real difference w/ you stripping the DRM is that they won't know how much of it you read (if that's even tracked) or if you read it at all. And I also highly doubt the DRM check shares any of your personal data (esp. if you live in the EU, as your instance would suggest), so the publisher would only know that this specific license is in-use, and the only way to connect that to you is by talking to the library.
Also, how is it tied to your passport? Mine is tied to my name and address, which my passport is also tied to, but the library system is local (US city and state) and therefore would require a fair amount of extra work to link (i.e. legal subpoena). So the only way the two would ever be connected is if I'm being investigated for a crime and they're looking for motive, which I'm sure they could come up with any number of ways. Granted, w/ the NSA revelations, the barrier for "legal subpoena" could be quite low and the lookup nearly instantaneous, but the only way they're looking at it is if I'm already suspected of a crime (otherwise, why bother?).
You do you of course, I just don't see how stripping DRM from a library book really protects you, the interesting data is already present just by checking the book out. You might as well just pirate from the internet directly and skip the library entirely...
Interesting. Here, a lot (most?) people don't have passports, so they don't even mention that as a valid form of ID to get a library card. All they want here is two proofs of address (utility bills work) so they know you live in the library's jurisdiction, and they don't record that anywhere AFAIK. In fact, if you have a library card from a different jurisdiction, you can generally continue using it, and if it expires, you generally just need to go in and ask them to renew (no proof of current residency needed in most libraries).
I guess libraries work a bit different here vs where you live.
Ah, we call that a "state ID." I can use it to travel between states in the US, but I can't use it to travel outside the country. Most people just have a driver's license, which is a state ID + driving endorsement. I didn't get a state ID until I got my driver's license, but I definitely had a library card before then (I think I used my school ID).
A passport, however, is issued by the federal government, is used almost exclusively for international travel, and must be renewed every 10 years (5 if you're under 18).
Even then, most libraries don't need a government issued ID, they just need picture ID and an address, and they don't record it anywhere, they just want to make sure you do, in fact, live in the city you're applying for a library card in (i.e. you didn't just steal someone else's mail).