The evolution of Digital Rights Management into the all-pervasive Digital Restrictions Management is fairly well documented. The use of product keys, serial numbers, etc. in games have often been touted as the starting point (cartridge-based games and then bleeding into CD-ROMs). However, the creation of Content Scrambling System (CSS) to protect DVDs from being ripped as a far more important important milestone. The creation of DeCSS in order to allow for such DVDs to be played on Linux devices upset the apple cart. This did lead to a consortium of companies (comprising of IBM, Intel, MEI, and Toshiba) coming together to create a Content Protection for Pre-recorded Media (CPPM)¹.

Subsequently, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and it's adoption by WIPO only accelerated the push of "rights" to "restrictions"². It is important to note that while the biggies have continued to battle it out with respect to various clauses and interpretations of DMCA, it continues to hurt the smaller actors more than ever. While many folks would have heard of the Dmitry Sklyarov's case after his presentation at DEFCON³, the wider community has woken up to the issue of DRM post Amazon's take-over of e-books with their Kindle devices and platform. Defective by Design is a campaign by FSF and has a wonderful FAQ on the implications of DRM. They also maintain a wonderful page on DRM-Free sites where e-books are available.

While there are wonderful sources for DRM-free ebooks such as the one maintained by Defective by Design and Liberature (do check them out, they are on Mastodon), here is a list I maintain based on my requirements. I hope to update this list based on a few categories such as genre of books, formats available as and when possible. If you'd like to contribute, please do send me an e-mail.