Re: Emacs as word processor

[Jambunathan K <kjambunathan@gmail.com>]

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Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> writes:

> Maybe a modified version of Org mode would handle this just fine

I am attaching a sample Org file and a OpenDocument export of it.

If you are using Emacs from bzr repo then,

(custom-set-variables
 '(org-export-backends (quote (ascii html icalendar latex odt org)))
 '(org-latex-pdf-process
   (quote
    ("pdflatex -interaction nonstopmode -output-directory %o %f" "bibtex %b" "pdflatex -interaction nonstopmode -output-directory %o %f" "pdflatex -interaction nonstopmode -output-directory %o %f"))))

Use the following commands

    C-x C-f ebooks.org
    C-c C-e h h (for HTML)
    C-c C-e o o (for ODT)
    C-c C-e l o (for LaTeX -> PDF)

Hint: Pause after C-c C-e.  See the header line.  Chars between [x] are
active keys.


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#+TITLE: The Danger Of Ebooks
#+DATE: 2013-12-16 Mon
#+AUTHOR: Richard Stallman
#+EMAIL: rms@gnu.org
#+OPTIONS: ':nil *:t -:nil ::t <:t H:3 \n:nil ^:t arch:headline
#+OPTIONS: author:t c:nil creator:comment d:(not "LOGBOOK") date:t
#+OPTIONS: e:t email:nil f:t inline:t num:nil p:nil pri:nil prop:nil
#+OPTIONS: stat:t tags:t tasks:t tex:t timestamp:t toc:nil todo:t |:t
#+CREATOR: Emacs 24.3.50.3 (Org mode 8.2.4)
#+DESCRIPTION:
#+EXCLUDE_TAGS: noexport
#+KEYWORDS:
#+LANGUAGE: en
#+SELECT_TAGS: export

* The Danger of Ebooks

In an age where business dominates our governments and writes our
laws, every technological advance offers business an opportunity to
impose new restrictions on the public. Technologies that could have
empowered us are used to chain us instead.

With printed books,
 - You can buy one with cash, anonymously.
 - Then you own it.
 - You are not required to sign a license that restricts your use of
   it.
 - The format is known, and no proprietary technology is needed to
   read the book.
 - You can give, lend or sell the book to another.
 - You can, physically, scan and copy the book, and it's sometimes
   lawful under copyright.
 - Nobody has the power to destroy your book.

Contrast that with Amazon ebooks (fairly typical):
 - Amazon requires users to identify themselves to get an ebook.
 - In some countries, including the US, Amazon says the user cannot
   own the ebook.
 - Amazon requires the user to accept a restrictive license on use of
   the ebook.
 - The format is secret, and only proprietary user-restricting
   software can read it at all.
 - An ersatz “lending” is allowed for some books, for a limited time,
   but only by specifying by name another user of the same system. No
   giving or selling.
 - To copy the ebook is impossible due to Digital Restrictions
   Management in the player. and prohibited by the license, which is
   more restrictive than copyright law.
 - Amazon can remotely delete the ebook using a back door. It used
   this back door in 2009 to delete thousands of copies of George
   Orwell's 1984.

Even one of these infringements makes these ebooks a step backward
from printed books. We must reject ebooks that damage our freedom.

The ebook companies say denying our traditional freedoms is necessary
to continue to pay authors. The current copyright system supports
those companies handsomely, and most authors badly. We can support
authors better in other ways that don't require curtailing our
freedom, and even legalize sharing. Two methods I've suggested are:
 - To distribute tax funds to authors based on the cube root of each
   author's popularity[1]. 
 - To design players so users can send authors anonymous voluntary
   payments.

Ebooks don't have to attack our freedom (Project Gutenberg's ebooks
don't), but they will if companies get to decide. It's up to us to
stop them.

*Join our cause: sign up at* http://DefectiveByDesign.org/ebooks.html

URL of this handout: http://stallman.org/articles/ebooks.pdf

Copyright 2011, 2012 Richard Stallman \\
Released under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0.

* Footnotes

[1] http://stallman.org/articles/internet-sharing-license.en.html