LEGO Robot Strips DRM Off Kindle Books

Now here is a LEGO robot that you would definitely look upon in awe – it happens to be able to strip DRM right off Kindle books, now how about that? The way it does so is rather magical, although no pixie dust was, and will be, involved. Not only that, this unique LEGO robot goes around things without breaking any of the law, so theoretically speaking, it is completely legal as it clicks through the pages of a Kindle book manually, signalling a computer to snap a photo of the E Ink display, perform some OCR move, which results in a DRM-free copy of the text.

This is the brainchild of a certain Peter Purgathofer of Vienna University of Technology, where this particular project is not meant to irk the folks over at Amazon and the e-book author, but rather, to deliver an art piece. According to Purgathofer, he has faith that Amazon’s original promises concerning the loaning and reselling books have been broken, and that the publishing industry themselves are in cahoots with Amazon who have bolstered copyright law. Purgathofer continued, “The DIY kindle scanner is an art installation reflecting this loss of rights Jeff Bezos first defended for us, but then chose to remove. It also is a statement about the futility of DRM. Please note that this is a project i did in my private time, as a private person, and it reflects my private views. I do not consider it part of my work at the Vienna University of Technology.”

Edwin Kee
Categories: Gadgets, Robots
Tags: Kindle, Lego