On both sides of the Atlantic Macmillan’s Tor imprint has announced it will drop DRM from its ebooks.
As predicted by author Charles Stross, Tor’s announcement has generated huge publicity for the company and an equal measure of goodwill among ebook readers.
It is both an astute business move and a great PR triumph for the company.
It also feels like the beginning of a process which will soon gather critical mass and lead to the eradication of DRM from all consumer ebooks.
The arguments against DRM are now so familiar that it’s no longer even remotely worth time rehashing them. Suffice to say that it’s merely an impediment to honest ebook buyers enjoying their purchases on their terms and does nothing to stop piracy.
The question many are asking themselves is: who will follow Tor? Will it be another division of Macmillan or will one of its rivals notice the halo generated by the announcement and fancy some positive coverage for itself.
One thing we can be certain is that very soon another big name will follow Tor’s example and once they do it’ll become a matter of simply waiting for other publishing houses to bow to the inevitable.
