| |
Bookshare.org for Authors and Publishers:
Working together to improve access for people with print disabilities
Bookshare.org provides an extensive on-line library of accessible digital books to people who provide proof of a disability that significantly impairs their ability to read standard print books.
Opportunities for Authors and Publishers
We invite authors and publishers to support the Bookshare project in two important ways.
- Provide digital copies of their books directly to Bookshare.org. This will make it possible for books to be added much more quickly than through scanning and with higher quality.
- Provide permission for Bookshare.org to make their copyrighted books available to our members outside the United States, whose access is not covered by the Chafee amendment to U.S. copyright law.
The forms here can be signed and returned to the Bookshare office by the copyright holder, whether that is the author or the publisher.
Author Consent Form
Publisher Consent Form
Additional Information for Authors and Publishers
A Testimonial from O’Reilly Press
O'Reilly Media, Inc., a publisher of leading-edge computer books, has provided digital copies of hundreds of its titles from the Safari collection, as well as permission to provide these books to people with print-related disabilities worldwide.
Tim O'Reilly, President of O'Reilly Media, Inc., has this to say about providing books through Bookshare.org:
"At O'Reilly, we've made books available in readable formats to the blind on an ad-hoc basis for years, and we think it's absolutely terrific that Benetech is taking a lot of the hassle out of this service -- which all publishers and authors should support -- by providing an infrastructure that helps the end users help themselves.
I'm quite happy with the level of security and authentication that Bookshare.org provides. I'm also delighted that they are getting out front on this issue.
Providing books online for a disadvantaged community for whom they are not now available takes nothing away from publishers or authors, but gives a great deal to a segment of society that is not now well served by publishers."
Additional Information about How Bookshare Operates
The most important issue is that Bookshare.org is operated in complete compliance with U.S. copyright law. The Association of American Publishers (AAP) was consulted with on an on-going basis during the design of the service for more than a year before its launch, representing the interests of authors and publishers. The AAP co-sponsored the 1996 Chafee Amendment, the special exemption in the copyright law that makes it possible for Bookshare.org, the Library of Congress of the U.S. Government, Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic and other nonprofit groups to create accessible books for the disabled. Benetech, the nonprofit that created Bookshare.org, takes seriously its obligations under the copyright law to serve disabled people while preventing access to the books by people without disabilities.
Bookshare.org is an on-line library of digital books that is created primarily by people with disabilities. Fewer than five percent of the books disabled people need are available in accessible formats such as Braille. Many reading machines and OCR scanners are currently being used by blind, dyslexic and physically disabled people to obtain access to books for themselves, and by schools who serve these individuals. Bookshare.org provides a means for disabled people to help themselves by lessening the time-consuming burden of scanning books they want to read. If somebody has already scanned a book to make it accessible, that scanning effort is shared with other disabled people who need access to that same book. Bookshare.org accepts uploads of scanned books from disabled members of the service and from volunteers, processes the books for quality and copyright law compliance, and then allows members who have provided proof of a qualifying disability to download the books in encrypted form. Individuals then read the books using adaptive technology, typically using speech synthesis (text to speech) or Braille access devices. There is a one time set-up fee of $25 and an annual membership fee of $50, intended to partially defray the cost of creating and operating the service, including compliance efforts to ensure that the site is operated within the copyright law.
-
Is Bookshare.org legal?
Yes, under 17 U.S.C. § 121, the Chafee Amendment to U.S. Copyright Law passed in 1996. This law is designed to encourage nonprofits to make accessible versions of books available to people with disabilities. Bookshare.org, as a nonprofit one of whose principal purposes is to serve the blind and disabled, meets the requirements of the relevant section of copyright law, 17 U.S.C. § 121:
"...it is not an infringement of copyright for an authorized entity to reproduce or to distribute copies... of a previously published, nondramatic literary work if such copies... are reproduced or distributed in specialized formats exclusively for use by blind or other persons with disabilities."
- Copies may not be reproduced or distributed in a format other than a specialized format exclusively for use by blind or other persons with disabilities
- Must bear a notice that any further reproduction or distribution in a format other than a specialized format is an infringement; and
- Must include a copyright notice identifying the copyright owner and the date of the original publication.
- "Specialized formats" means Braille, audio, or digital text which is exclusively intended for use by blind or other persons with disabilities.
As a project of the Benetech, Silicon Valley's leading technology nonprofit and a leader in disability access, Bookshare.org meets the definition of an authorized entity.
Materials downloadable from Bookshare.org are based on electronic Braille and digital talking book standards. Copyright law recognizes these digital formats as specialized formats for the disabled. Braille books and four-track audio cassettes are the most commonly recognized specialized formats in use over the past thirty years.
-
Where do the digital books in Bookshare.org come from?
Generally from disabled people or volunteers scanning printed books. Many public domain books come from Project Gutenberg. Most of the books come from blind or other disabled people scanning books themselves, and then uploading the digital books to us for inclusion in our collection. Increasingly, we are obtaining generous donations of digital books from authors and publishers who support the Bookshare.org concept and want it to flourish.
-
Does Bookshare.org accept cracked ebooks?
No, and our member and volunteer agreements forbid this. We will remove books in our collection that can be shown were provided to us in violation of a license agreement or through the breaking of an encryption system. We feel that this position distances us from people who are breaking laws in their approach to ebooks. We will also cooperate with law enforcement efforts to identify lawbreakers involved in such activity.
-
Does Bookshare.org make books available to anyone outside the print-disabled community?
No, copyrighted books can only be accessed by disabled people who have provided a verifiable proof of disability and agreed to abide by Bookshare.org's restrictions against redistribution. Copyrighted materials are only available in disability-specific formats; we currently support only a digital Braille format and the DAISY/NISO digital talking book standard.
-
What steps does Bookshare.org take to prevent non-disabled U.S. residents from accessing these books?
Bookshare.org has implemented a seven-point digital rights management plan to control abuse.
The Seven Point Digital Rights Management Plan
-
Qualified Users
Only blind or other persons with disabilities that affect their ability to access print will be permitted to download copyrighted books. Bookshare.org follows the procedures and standards for access to books that are now in use by Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic (RFB&D). A Bookshare.org user must register and supply a signed certification completed by an appropriate professional in the field of disability services education, medicine, psychology or a related area. The certifier must be a recognized expert who can attest to the physical basis that limits the applicant's use of standard print. Appropriate certifying experts may differ from disability to disability. For example, in the case of blindness and visual impairments, an appropriate certifier may be a physician, ophthalmologist, or optometrist. In the case of a perceptual disability, a neurologist, learning disability specialist, or a psychologist with a background in learning disabilities may be the most qualified certifying professional.
In addition, since any U.S. resident who has previously submitted their proof of disability to NLS (National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress) would qualify under the law, we have a cooperative agreement where NLS will certify to us that they have such proof on record for the individual.
-
Contractual Agreement
All Bookshare.org users have to agree to terms of use that forbid violation of the copyright law restrictions on redistribution and use of copyrighted material. Users who violate these terms will lose their access to Bookshare.org and may suffer other legal consequences as a result of their actions. Our user agreement specially provides that we may provide personal information identifying downloaders to law enforcement and legal counsel engaged in enforcing copyright laws, if we have any reason to believe that an infringement occurred. The AAP's general counsel and GCs from leading publishers had the opportunity to comment on these agreements and Bookshare.org made numerous changes in response to their concerns on behalf of authors and publishers.
-
Copyright Notice
In order to comply with the copyright law regulating the provision of accessible books to people with disabilities (17 U.S.C. § 121), Bookshare.org will ensure that all copyrighted materials will bear a notice that any further reproduction or distribution in a format other than a specialized format is an infringement. Such content will include a copyright notice identifying the copyright owner and the date of the original publication.
In addition, there will be other language reminding users of their obligations to use this material only as permitted by their agreements with Bookshare.org and the law. It will also inform people who are not Bookshare.org users that their possession of a Bookshare.org digital book is a violation of the copyright law and that they should erase such a book without using or copying it.
-
Encryption
Bookshare.org encrypts a requested book for a given user. A custom decryption program is provided to each Bookshare.org customer. This program will decrypt content delivered for that user only and save the decrypted content to the specified DAISY or BRF (Braille) file.
-
Fingerprinting
All copyrighted material downloaded contains digital fingerprints identifying the downloader, as part of the encryption process so that the identity of the authorized user is contained within the decrypted material in a difficult to find fashion. This way, if a user illegally redistributes material downloaded from Bookshare.org, it is possible to confirm both that the materials came from Bookshare.org and which user was responsible.
-
Security Database
All transaction, encryption codes and fingerprints are stored in a database enabling Bookshare.org to track any abuse to the source. Users are informed of the existence of this database as part of Bookshare.org's privacy program, and are informed of the limitations of the use of this data (it will only be used to respond to abuse problems, and not for marketing or other purposes).
-
Security Watch Program
A security program monitors all transactions and will suspend any user whose account exhibits any excessive downloading of content or other unusual activity. This program will build usage profiles and over time will be strengthened through experience to flag potential abuse. For example, there will be an active effort to suspend accounts that show evidence of abuse.
-
Is it legal for Bookshare.org to charge disabled people to download its accessible books?
Yes, this is common practice in the field of nonprofits serving the disabled, although the charges rarely cover the cost of developing and operating the service. Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic charges similar membership fees as one of the leading and most respected providers of accessible material to disabled students. Bookshare.org is not a profit-making venture: our goal is that eventually the nominal subscription fees ($25 set up, $50/year, with free memberships available based on volunteer efforts) will generate enough revenue to support the service. Of course, one of the main costs we incur is ensuring compliance with the copyright laws. The gap between fees and costs is filled with charitable funding.
-
Is Bookshare.org required by law to remove specific books from its collection when requested by an author or publisher or is Bookshare.org required to ask permission to use the materials of an author before doing so under the law?
Generally, no, just as the Library of Congress can't be stopped from producing and distributing Braille versions of specific books. For the very narrow purpose of helping the disabled, the law supercedes the general right of the author or rights holder to control copying of their work. Entities authorized by the law to distribute the materials used by the blind do not have to receive permission from anyone to use them, since the law gives that permission automatically, so long as the system operates in conformity with the law. Bookshare.org will remove books, upon request, under the following circumstances:
- The materials are excluded from the law. In general, this would be dramatic works (plays) and standardized testing materials.
- Materials we have made a matter of policy to not accept. For example, the textbook division of AAP asked us to not accept teacher's editions of textbooks for the site.
- Books that were obtained by cracking an ebook.
We regularly reject books that are submitted to us that lack copyright information, since that is a requirement of the law section we operate under. We also reject materials that appear to be materially incomplete or a poor scan of the book, since this would not serve the disabled user.
-
Does Bookshare.org take copyright abuse seriously?
Yes, we do. We have committed to suspending members found violating the law and our member agreements. The fingerprints and watermarks in our books allow us to trace books back to a member who has violated his or her agreement. We fully comply with the provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act which requires us to cooperate with copyright owners in case of alleged abuse of the copyright laws. If you are a copyright owner, to report complaints, please follow the steps as outlined in the DMCA Policy (Digital Millennium Copyright Act). Please remember, since Bookshare.org is legally permitted to make books available to the disabled under the provisions of 17 U.S.C. § 121, complaints that simply allege use of copyrighted material that is permitted under that law will not result in removal of the content, since no copyright infringement will have in fact occurred. If you are not a copyright owner, and wish to report suspected abuse, please email abuse@bookshare.org.
For more information about author/publisher support for Bookshare.org, send mail to info@Bookshare.org.
|
|
|
