Dear Fellow members, Distinguished guests,

Good morning.

The title is “right to read”.

Is it about right or left. No. Is it about right or wrong. No.

It is about the fact we are legally allowed to do something, more specifically, if we are allowed to read, if we have the right to read.

Am I kidding?

Of course not, we all have the right to read. It is one of the foundations of a democratic society. Reading allows us to meet people, to debate philosophies, and to experience events far beyond the narrow confines of our own existence. Reading books also gives us a lot of fun, and it is particularly important during the time of pandemic when our mouths become privacy and our eyes are still open.

(ask the audience) Dear fellow members and distinguished guests, Have you ever borrowed a book from a library? Have you ever bought a book from a bookstore?

Many of you have. I have, too.

Recently, I bought the paper version of Hong Lou Meng for my son. It is a classic novel, and I enjoy reading it, too. And I can lend the book to others, too, if they also like it. I can lend it to as many people as I like, and no one can forbid this because we all have the right to read.

However, if I had ever had an e-reader, and bought the e-version of Hong Lou Meng, most likely, I would not be able to lend it to others - this is not allowed. If I had ever figured out how to get a copy of my Hong Lou Meng from the e-reader and sent it to my friends, my friends’ e-reader would simply refuse to open the copy - it would not work: because the software in the e-reader has malicious features called Digital Restrictions Management (DRM, for short) to forbid the sharing. The e-books are on-purposely designed like this so that only that particular software with that malicious functionality can display them.

DRM is the computer-enforced restrictions on lending or reading books. It is a denial to the individual’s right to read.

This is very sad situation. We have to fight for protecting our right to read. In fact, we need fight bravely because the battle is going against us so far. The enemy is organized, and readers are not.

For example, in the US, the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) gave explicit government backing to DRM, by making the distribution of programs that can break DRM a crime. The European Union imposed similar restrictions in a 2001 copyright directive, in a form not quite as strong.

Today, when I open the the Amazon website to buy books, there are only e-books for Amazon’s e-reader - Kindle. However, Kindle is designed to spy on everything the reader does: it reports which book is being read, and which page, and it reports when the reader highlights text, and any notes the reader enters. It has DRM, which is intended to block readers from sharing copies. It has a back door with which Amazon can remotely erase any book. In 2009, it erased thousands of copies of 1984, by George Orwell. Readers experienced that the pages magically disappeared just in front of their eyes. Virtual book-burning, is that what“Kindle”means?

If these policies were limited to Amazon, we’d bypass them, but the other e-book dealers’ policies are roughly similar.

Dear fellow members and distinguished guests, it doesn’t have to be this way. Reading is fun, sharing is good. Reading and sharing ought to be legal, and preventing sharing by making e-books a restriction on readers is unethical. We must demand our right to read and share.

Dear fellow members and distinguished guests, the title is “right to read”.

How would you feel if someday you are only allowed to read the books you bought for just one time?

How would you feel if someday your children are not allowed to share books with you?

How would you feel if someday you are not allowed to read without having an e-reader to track you?

I feel very frustrated when I am thinking about these questions, because we all have the right to read, but we all face the danger to be deprived of it.

It’s time to fight for right to read.

Thank you.