Copyright

Lulu, the self-publishing platform through which I'm distributing some of my work, recently announced that now they're doing "eBooks." Interesting piece of "news," since they've offered electronic distribution right from the start of their operation, and I've been using it myself for years already. What's new? It turns out the actually new part is that instead of just allowing people to buy and sell downloadable PDFs, now they're going further to support commercial "eBook" devices... and they're claiming an additional $1.49 out of every download sold on top of their previous claim of 20% of the retail price (it's going to be interesting if they try to take $1.49 out of my Japanese syllabary flash cards, which are currently priced at $1.00)... and (for another $0.99) they'll let you apply DRM to your "eBook."

I'm inclined to think that at the very least, I shouldn't publish with Lulu again; and, probably, I should also withdraw my existing publications from their system and find some other print-on-demand outfit. Is that an overreaction?

ETA: They've posted a response, see below.

I've not had much enthusiasm for the copyright wars in the last few years, and I've mostly stayed on the sidelines in the current consultation. It's important stuff, though, and there are only a few days left to make submissions, so this morning I took some time out to prepare the following. You should take a look at the Speak Out On Copyright site and put in your comments, too.