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BSA To Join Battle Against DRM
Dunark writes "It appears that two of our favorite enemies are now at loggerheads with each other: According to The Inquirer, the Business Software Alliance has joined the fight against the Hollywood-backed attempt to legislate required DRM (the Hollings bill). Read about it in The Inquirer and also at Mercury News"
they will sue each other out of business, guess that's to much to ask for eh?
North Korea is planning an attack on Iraq if they don't stop production of "weapons of mass destruction".
"A flash of sanity for the BSA"
Well, the BSA is controlled by the tech companies.
So, if the techs go after **AA, it will be through the BSA and (maybe) individually.
Hardly surprising.
Seriously, though, I'm suprised to see Microsoft take this position, since they had the most to gain if this scheme takes off. After all, if you can only watch future movies on "approved" OS's, guess which ones will be approved and which ones won't!
They both want the same thing. Control your desktop.
The difference is the business model.
**IA wants to control the media of distribution to protect their business model.
BSA wants you to "break the law" with their software watching to charge you after the fact.
You know penalities are "free" money.
Please don't mod this +1 funny, as it's not meant to be that way. I really do find strinkingly large simularities between the way the Nazi's do things and the way certain members of congress try to force the people that elected them to give up their rights. Just because "Rights" is one of the DRM words, doesn't make it right.
I believe in Law that is for the people.
please follow the links...
Ignore the "p2p is theft" trolls, they're just uninformed
This is like an American version of Godzilla vs. Mothra, 2 monsters in suits battling eachother in the courtroom, you're not quite sure who'll win, you're not quite sure you care, but you have to watch it and cheer them on.
Wax-Museum Fire Results In Hundreds Of New Danny DeVito Statues
The BSA simply wants to do their own DRM, and dosn't want it mandated to them. If the RIAA/MPAA gets to choose the DRM, the BSA has to implement one that they might not like. If the BSA can implement their own DRM, they can charge royalties for using it, and they get to choose their own.
First, what the BSA wants is NOT less DRM, it is
Market-Enforced DRM. You can only get your software,
movies, music and what have you THROUGH their
blessed Palladium.
The reason they don't want Hollings bill is
that it forces them to consider things that they
otherwise wouldn't for economic reasons, for
example fair use and expiration of copyrights, which
would come into play IF the DRM solution was
part of a law.
So -- Remember. They are NOT anti-DRM, they just
want to CONTROL the DRM. And it is a LOT more
difficult for government to interfere with
the private choices of individuals (you bought
this hardware knowing it had DRM -- but you
can't connect to your online banking otherwise and
the $10/teller visit fees added up!)
My enemy's enemy is my ... Er wait a minute... I'll get back to you...
Reality is defined by the maddest person in the room
Get off my launchpad!
Since when was BSA our enemy? Don't you realize that the more they force people to pay for proprietary software, the less the people are inclined to choose proprietary solution over a free beer one.
I bet many companies are evaluating open source alternatives for their existing proprietary applications right now, because they might not have bought quite enough licenses to cover all their use. That wouldn't be the case if BSA was less aggressive.
Save your wrists today - switch to Dvorak
Am I supposed to feel better because a lobbying group is working to undo the evil of another lobbying group?
I'm no historian but I think the intent of the people who set up the USA Congress and other government organs was to enable the rule of the people for the common good. Now we see a group of corporations *buying* new laws for their own profit and the *only* thing that has the slightest chance of stopping them is another group of corporations who see a threat to their own bottom line.
It might be nice to see bad laws failing to get enacted but if you believe that the BSA are acting for the good of the people you are very naive. They act for their own good *exclusively* and it is pure chance that in this instance it coincides with what is good for the general population (indeed, there are many examples of the same group working directly *against* the common good).
So rejoice while you can but know this: you no longer have a say in the making of your own country's laws. Every time an expensive lobbying campaign is successful, it is one more battle lost for democracy; the exact legislative result is of little consequence.
'It is a pity that our friends lie in between,' said Gimli. 'If no land divided BSA and RIAA, then they could fight while we watched and waited.'
'The victor would emerge stronger than either, and free from doubt,' said Gandalf.
FreeSpeech.org
DRM prevents piracy; who you going to sue, if no one can use software in violation of its license?
It's even more effective than establishing control over the radio playlists, something Tom Petty voiced in the lyrics to "The Last DJ".
In fact, if a workable DRM scheme were possible, the raison d'être of the BSA, SPA, and similar criminal enterprises is completely kaput, vanished, gone, history . . . you get the idea. Additionally, their members would lose the mind share they currently gain from unlicensed use of their products.
One CPU cycle wasted on digital restrictions management is ONE TOO MANY.
The biggest friends of business are business men and women. The biggest enemies of business are
The law in the U.S. has become corrupt, as this July 2002 article, linked at the bottom of the Inquirer article, says: Political contribution watch.
I've done some research about how law is made in Oregon: Airplanes are safe, but laws often crash. (For those who live outside the U.S.: Oregon is a U.S. state.)
Basically, it appears that the law in the U.S. is being driven by those who have a financial interest, not people who have the best interests of the country in mind.
Well, Vader switched to good at the end of Jedi, but I don't think that's what's happening here.
Microsoft's DRM scheme serves as yet another way to lock people into their operating system by restricting the choice (of content) that is available to users of other operating systems.
Think about it: if Microsoft is successful at convicing Hollywood that their content will only be safe on Microsoft Windows systems, then Hollywood will only produce content for Microsoft Windows systems.
Microsoft may actually fear legislative attempts at creating DRM schemes, since those attempts would be much less likely to favor one OS over another.
Shame on Google.
I read how the DRM is bad, and I agree. As a customer, I would not ever purchase something that limited MY USE of it.
The BSA is an extortion racket of the worst kind, not so much as what they purport to do, but rather in their methods of DOING It. The same can be said about the RIAA, MPAA, and even so much in the aspect of DRM.
Which brings me to my question: When did I become a CONSUMER as opposed to a CUSTOMER?????
I have seen the trend in the computer and electronics industry from as far back as 1995 to state that I, as a user of a certain product, no longer have the right to Support of that product when it messes up, that I no longer have the right to ALTER the product that I PURCHASED with my Hard Earned CASH to make it NOT prevent me from using it in a way that prevents it from messing up other items, and NOW, the fact that if I DO alter, fix, repair, modify or explore that product that I as a CUSTOMER bought, I can and will be prosecuted.
This is not the America I grew up in. This is not the America I swore to defend.
Yes, I know....Welcome to Corporate America. Where wars are fought not to win, but only to deplete the ever standing supply.
The mantra has gone from "This we'll defend" to "You better BUY it NOW!!"
You keep going until you die..."Me".
Seriously. The BSA isn't the Gestapo or something. They don't set their agenda to 'Evil'. They are the attack dogs of a lot of companies interested in making money. When they think they're losing money from piracy, the BSA kicks down some doors at the public schools. When they think they're losing money from bad legislation, the BSA politely and sweetly whispers soothing words of influence and control to our lords and masters.
The goal is the same: make money.
Tactics might be different, but who really thinks you make as many friends in Congress by kicking down their doors as you do at public schools? ; )
There have been numerous reports of the BSA harassing Unix or open-source shops out of ignorance/malice (choose one) because they have the mentality that all PCs run Windows. Businesses have been destroyed because of them.
At least mafia-owned pizzarias make excellent pizza. Compare to Bill Gates.
> I say we put the two sides in a steel cage, maybe with some
> pichforks and chainsaws. Two go in, one comes out.
Might I add, that we'd need to keep a shotgun handy to deal with the winner.....
Bugs Bunny was right.