[SGVLUG] The right to read... and today's students

[juanslayton @dslextreme.com]

Just read the chronicle article.  Comments covered the authors, the
professors, the publishers, the law....  I didn't notice any reference to
the _university_.  If the school publishes tuition and fees, and the
student acts on the basis of that publication--then if there is actually a
_requirement_ to pay for an access code to successfully pass the class_ --
the school could be sued for failure to perform on a written contract.
Academic bait-and-switch is no more legitimate than other forms.

On Wed, Sep 5, 2012 at 8:48 PM, Dan Buthusiem <dan.buthusiem at gmail.com>wrote:

> I actually bought a combo for the CCENT / CCNA which came bundled with
> extra content. Once I opened the box, broke the seals for the disks, and
> put the disks into my computer, I quickly found almost all of the
> advertised materials on the disks were "lite" or time sensitive (45-day
> demo of a DRM-ed ebook which wasn't Android compatible). For me to have
> "full" versions of everything in the box, the cost of this bundle would go
> from $60 to somewhere between $300 and $400. The whole reason I bought it
> was to get around fighting for a spot in a class. I've found ways around
> some of the limitations (physical hardware access, for instance). The thing
> that burned me the most was how there was no mention of the limitations
> until I spun up the disks, voiding all terms of being able to return it.
>
> That first link was a scary read. It's exactly what all of these devices
> with locked boot loaders are paving the way for. I've already shifted my
> purchasing to only support platforms which are open, or at least
> unlockable. It's also why I don't see myself ever owning a Chromebook. Why
> should Netflix have control over how I choose to run my machine? They serve
> me to earn my money, and any of my computing devices are just that - mine.
> Any business who forgets who they're working for deserves to lose revenue
> until they either learn the error of their ways, or go under. I guess only
> time will tell how many others open their eyes and adjust their spending
> accordingly. Granted, I am a current Netflix subscriber, but the moment
> they start to kill access on my rooted Android devices, they'll lose me.
>
> Sorry for the semi-rant. Spooky find, Matti. Thanks for sharing. :)
>
>
>
>
> On Sep 5, 2012 6:43 PM, "matti" <mathew_2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Do you recall Stallman's "The Right to Read"?
>> ( Feb 1997 in Communications of the ACM )
>>
>> http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
>>
>> Well, now we see what he predicting occurring more and more
>> frequently:
>>
>> September 3, 2012
>> With 'Access Codes,' Textbook Pricing Gets More Complicated Than Ever
>>
>> https://chronicle.com/article/What-Is-an-Access-Code-Worth-/134048/
>>
>> http://lukethomas.com/the-textbook-industry-greed-its-getting-worse/
>>
>
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