Penguin Pulls Books From Overdrive Lending Program for Libraries

Penguin announced on Monday that it was pulling its digital editions from Overdrive’s library lending program because of security reasons.  This may have more to do with Overdrive’s relationship with Amazon, who angered publishers by offering free ebook loans to its Prime account customers in limited circumstances.  The Authors Guild raged against the Amazon machine for that one.  Security may be the cover for the move, but it’s questionable given that the security for the Overdrive lending program is the same for books sold to Kindle users.  

If Penguin is concerned about piracy, consider that only one paying customer need have the skill to strip away the DRM from their titles.  The rest of the world need only have the skill to click on a download link.  You’d have to kill the entire web to stop piracy in those circumstances.  Oh, wait, isn’t that what SOPA is for?  [MG]