Many readers search for ways to remove DRM from Ridi (리디) e-books. The reasons are usually the same: a subscription was canceled and books disappeared, or someone wants to read a purchased title on any device without restriction. This post explains why DRM is there, why it cannot be removed, and how to find e-books that never had DRM in the first place.

What DRM Is

Digital Rights Management (DRM) is an access-control technology applied to digital content. For e-books, it encrypts the file so it can only be opened by a specific account or authorized device — the same reason streaming-service downloads vanish when you cancel.

Korean e-book platforms apply DRM for three structural reasons:

• Publisher and author contracts: Rights holders often require DRM as a condition of licensing content. The platform cannot unilaterally lift a contractual requirement.
• Anti-piracy: Without DRM, a single purchased file can be freely copied and distributed.
• Platform lock-in: Limiting readability to one platform keeps users in that ecosystem.

Why DRM-Removal Tools Carry Legal Risk

DRM-removal tools exist and are easy to find. Using them in Korea is a violation of the Copyright Act, specifically the provision prohibiting circumvention of technical protection measures (Article 104-2). This applies even to books you paid for. In March 2025, Ridi led the closure of a Telegram channel distributing DRM-removal software.

Beyond the legal risk, DRM-removal tools are a common vector for malware. The download path is untrustworthy.

E-Books That Never Had DRM

There is a more straightforward path: read books that were never locked in the first place.

The largest category of DRM-free e-books is public-domain works. Once copyright protection expires (70 years after an author's death under current Korean law), anyone can copy, distribute, and modify the text freely. There is nothing to lock. Shakespeare, Dickens, Akutagawa, Natsume Sōseki, Dostoevsky — all public domain.

Sources for DRM-free public-domain e-books:

• Project Gutenberg: 70,000+ English titles, freely downloadable in EPUB and plain text.
• Aozora Bunko: ~17,000 Japanese literary works, original text.
• Pagera: Korean translations layered on top of the above two sources. 24,000+ catalog, 70+ Korean translations as of May 2026.

Pagera's DRM-Free Structure

Because Pagera works exclusively with public-domain texts, there is no DRM to begin with. No subscription, no cancellation risk. A chapter read today will still be readable in five years.

Korean translations go through AI translation followed by two independent reviewers scoring across five axes (adequacy, fluency, style, naturalness, polish) with a passing threshold of 98 out of 100. The process is designed to reduce AI-sounding output.

Bilingual parallel reading — English original and Korean translation side-by-side — is also supported, useful for anyone using classic literature as language-study material.

Summary

Ridi DRM cannot be removed because publisher contracts, copyright law, and platform design all reinforce the same structure. Attempting to work around it carries legal risk.

If the books you want to read are classics, starting in a DRM-free environment is the cleaner path. If you need current commercial titles, purchasing (not subscribing) gives you the most durable access. Subscriptions work well for books you read once; they are a poor fit for books you want to return to over years.

Start reading DRM-free classics on Pagera — no account required.