Some of the more spiffy security software available even alerts publishers or authors when an e-book is passed along to another computer or reading device without payment. The most common type of encryption used is digital watermarking, which identifies the purchasing consumer through a code and prohibits online posting. Still, most of the demand for encryption technology still comes from businesses that want to post reports online. Companies that make handheld reading devices for e-books are trying desperately to ease publishers' security concerns. It features a security system that prevents text from being copied or distributed once it has been downloaded into a reading device.
Signs are that the technology is helping book publishers warm up to idea of e-books.
While encryption is good, it's not foolproof. All the concern about e-book security has prompted the U.S. Commerce Dept. to weigh in on the issue. That situation probably won't change anytime soon. That disparity pretty much tells the story of digital books so far. And that's not likely to change too quickly, even if King keeps releasing chapters about possessed vines.