thedstrider

Microsoft has a DRM-locked ebook store that isn’t making enough money, so they’re shutting it down and taking away every book that every one of its customers acquired effective July 1.

Customers will receive refunds.

This puts the difference between DRM-locked media and unencumbered media into sharp contrast. I have bought a lot of MP3s over the years, thousands of them, and many of the retailers I purchased from are long gone, but I still have the MP3s. Likewise, I have bought many books from long-defunct booksellers and even defunct publishers, but I still own those books.

When I was a bookseller, nothing I could do would result in your losing the book that I sold you. If I regretted selling you a book, I didn’t get to break into your house and steal it, even if I left you a cash refund for the price you paid.

People sometimes treat me like my decision not to sell my books through Amazon’s Audible is irrational (Audible will not let writers or publisher opt to sell their books without DRM), but if you think Amazon is immune to this kind of shenanigans, you are sadly mistaken. My books matter a lot to me. I just paid $8,000 to have a container full of books shipped from a storage locker in the UK to our home in LA so I can be closer to them. The idea that the books I buy can be relegated to some kind of fucking software license is the most grotesque and awful thing I can imagine: if the publishing industry deliberately set out to destroy any sense of intrinsic, civilization-supporting value in literary works, they could not have done a better job.

Cailbre d/l:

https://calibre-ebook.com/download

How to use cailbre to remove DRM:

Some more tutorials and tools:

removing DRM from your kindle purchases

Removing DRM from epubs

Image: Gender Spectrum Collection

Someone asked us:

i genuinely want to send my boyfriend nudes, and he’s interested in getting them, since it’s a way for us to connect in this time. however, I’d like to know how to be safe from hackers or other people trying to save or spread my pictures? this is a real fear – people have hacked into my phone before to try to find dirt on me, but at the time there wasn’t anything to find (thankfully)

Here’s the #1 thing you need to know before you read the rest of this: If you or your boyfriend are younger than 18, it’s best to not send nudes. It can have some pretty big personal and legal consequences. 

In many places, it would be illegal for your boyfriend to have those pictures and may even be illegal for you to send them. Yep, even if you yourself were the photographer! If you’re 18 or older, legal issues are less of a concern. But it’s still important to understand all the risks before you decide to hit send.

People hacking into your phone is a problem. For starters, put a passcode or password on any phone, tablet, or computer you use. Put two-factor authentication on all your personal accounts — especially social media, chat, and money-related apps. Each app has information on the steps to take to set this up.

But the problem with sending someone nudes isn’t just losers hacking into your phone. It’s the risk that one day your partner might share your pics without your consent, and there isn’t anything you can do to stop it. 

You can’t control what the person who receives your nudes does with them after you press send — and there’s no way to control who may see them and no way of getting them back. Whoever gets the pics can save them on their phone or computer forever. Even though it’s a crime in many states, they can send them to other people or even post them on public forums. On apps where photos disappear after some time, they can still take screenshots and do the same with those. 

Ultimately, the most important thing to consider is how much you trust the person you’re sending pics to and what you’re willing to risk if they break that trust. 

Here are a few methods people use to send sexy pics to their partners and their privacy pros and cons. 

Text, email, or instant message

Pro: It’s fast.

Cons: Pretty much everything else! Your partner could save the pic on their phone/tablet/computer and do whatever they want with it. Depending on the kind of phone they have, the pic might even show up on their lock screen where other people might catch a glimpse. 

Send a photo that disappears (via Snapchat, disappearing Instagram message, etc.)

Pro: The pic auto deletes after a certain period of time or number of views. 

Cons: Even though the app might tell you if they do it, you can’t stop your partner from taking a screenshot. If they’re really sneaky, they could also take a photo of their phone with a second phone or device. 

Send a photo of your body without your face

Pro: If your partner does cross your boundary and shares the photo without your consent, it will be harder to identify you. 

Cons: It may be possible to recognize you by your body type, skin tone, hair, tattoos, or things in the background of the photo. There’s also something on digital photographs called “exif” data. Exif data can tell you when and where a photograph was taken, so tech-savvy people can easily figure out whose body they’re looking at. 

Send a pic on one device while you video chat on another

Pro: You can see them when they receive the picture and then walk them through the process of deleting it. 

Con: They could end the chat before you get them to delete the picture. Or they could pretend to delete it.

Other things to know:

If your phone backs up all of your photos on something like iCloud or Google, there’s a chance the photo could be stored in another place if the back-up feature isn’t disabled before you snap those pics. It might also be possible for other people to see, if you share one of the connected devices with someone else. 

Deleting pics on most phones, tablets, and computers is often at least a two step process: first deleting it from your album and then emptying your trash folder or permanently deleting. 

If either of you uses a work or school-issued device, the school or job may have access to your data. (Scary!)

Whatever online privacy steps you take, make sure the person you send nudes to is also thinking about cybersecurity. You don’t want to worry about them getting hacked, too. 

Most importantly of all, remember this: it’s never OK for someone to pressure you into sending nudes or to send them without asking. It sounds like you’re into this idea for your own enjoyment and to feel close to someone you can’t see in person, and that’s totally cool and understandable! But if expectations change, know that the the rules of consent apply to sexy pics as much as sex itself. 

Like, logically, there’s clear evidence that it is not a hot stove. They can complete these tasks and do things they want to when they want to - they can’t see these warning lights that make you hesitate, that give you doubt because what if this time the stove is hot? How can you tell? There’s always that itch of panicky hesitation that makes completing a task - even one you typically enjoy - hellish in its own right.

Considering that CNN anchors are pretty public eye in the interest of confidentiality im not gonna reveal what desk this was at, who i used to work under, etc. This was a year before corona hit, so I figure it's been long enough that i can tell this

So I was fully applying for a job I wasn't entirely qualified for. I had tons of field journalism and editorial experience, but that was in media journalism. I wasn't expecting to get a call back, so of course I went and presented my best self. I was expecting this interview to happen in like, a private office. I got up to their floor, shook hands with my interviewer, and he deadass just... stood in the hallway with me while writers and tech people were running by and did it there.

I handed him my CV, he looked at it for all of 2 seconds before he said "this is a nice layout," and folded it into his pocket to never look at again. He doesn't bring up my experience, or my references, skills, education, anything. He just starts firing off riddles at me

I swear to god, he doesn't miss a beat. He just goes from complimenting my CV's look and then says "what's the world's largest desert?"

I ask "hot or cold?"

He says "either"

I say "then Antarctica." I have no idea what the fuck is happening, but this might as well happen. My life is already so goddamn weird.

"But there's ice everywhere."

"Doesn't mean the water is accessible."

He nods and says "clever. Not a lot of people get that on the first try."

And the entire interview is just trick questions and riddles of increasing difficulty thrown at me in a hallway. He starts leading me around the office at one point while he keeps playing Riddler to my Batman. He never once looks at my qualifications, I assume he's done that in my online application. But he doesn't question me about my work experience or what i can bring to the table, he just keeps asking me shit about hypothetical games of russian roulette and what I would do in the trolley problem. I am in professional business attire, he is wearing jeans, a graphic shirt, and a manchester united football club snapback.

I answer his riddles, he bids me farewell with a smile and a well-natured clap between my shoulder blades that's hard enough to knock my glasses down to the tip of my nose once i turn around. All I get is a "you're impressive, kid," on my way out. I am confused as all fuck as I step back outside and hail a taxi, and spend the entire drive home in silence wondering what in the fresh hell that was.

I get the job.