Slashdot Mirror
Disney Suggests Mandating DRM On All Media
Ethan Butterfield writes "Cory Doctorow posted this on his blog this morning. Essentially, Disney wants the FCC to regulate all devices capable of recording from any audio broadcasting medium or from the Internet."
Could this possibly tie in with their crappy newly-released PCs? I'd love to get one of those and tear it apart to see what DRM they've put in.
Mickey with a shotgun saying something about a "motherfucking IP infringer" comes to mind...
Striking fear in the authors of godawful fanfiction, I am here, appearing in darkness, Tuxedo Jack!
That being said, I'm not surprised that it's Disney who made the official proposal. I give it 10 years before DRM violation arrests are second behind drug possession arrests. Buy prison stock now.
Stupid people make stupid things profitable.
To have the FCC on my computer!
Tape recorders are a nono? How about wax cylinders? Punch cards?
Very, very vague.
By summer it was all gone...now shesmovedon. --
Did you ever hear George Carlin's rant about hearing Mickey's birthday announced on the radio? :)
Because, as we all know, once something falls into the public domain, no one will want to keep it around anymore and it will forever be lost.
Weren't they just supposed to monitor violent content? On television networks?
Yay for slippery slopes!
That's the ultimate goal from all these 'media conglomerates', has been for some time.. I don't know why people haven't seen it coming...
Once its *all* digital, they have extra weight behind them both in the legal/government and technological arenas. Even helps squash competition by charging exurbanite fees to join the 'official drm bandwagon' and have your media playable...
That final day IS coming....And it will be the last day I will be considered a 'media consumer'.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
So when will the copyright police be round to collect all the non-DRM equipment?
Will there be public executions of people who build their own crystal sets to listen to AM radio?
I want the FCC to do my laundry.
I want the FCC to feed the poor.
I want the FCC to give me a blanket when I'm cold and give me a glass of water when I'm thirsty.
I love you, you love me, we all love the FCC!
FCC, is there anything you can't do?
A choice of masters is not freedom
If you don't think that disney can get the government to change something so important, google around for "Mickey Mouse copyright act"
Once the FCC mandates that all radio signals are digital, like they are with TV, you can make crystal radios all day long and listen to fuzz.... Doubt anyone will care..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Boycott Disney!
Since Disney is not M$ then this cannot be that bad of an idea. Now if M$ had thought of this, then it'd be a totally different story, it would be bad bad bad. Why? Because M$ is bad, they told me so!
Does that mean that my brain is a recording device and I can't use it?
That's gotta fit into your schema somewhere
Then we won't be able to listen to Disney music?
Bring it on!
As highly as it would like to think its own influence is, I don't think Disney is capable of forcing the entire tech sector to follow their restrictive standards. I've personally written some of my own content to DVD; would I be mandated to include DRM because of Disney's bought-and-paid-for laws? Worse yet, I bet there would be either an explicit or hidden licensing cost to Disney or whoever for the DRM technology. Whatever happened to free speech? If I want to put something of my own creation, isn't that protected free speech? What can Disney possibly have to do with me, my content, my DVD burner, and the friends I give my content to?
And one more thing. DRM is a joke. With the state of current DRM anyone can crack DRM by downloading a simple program such as DVD Decrypter. You don't have to know anything at all about encryption. Assuming DRM gets better in the future, which is debatable, it may be harder for the individual to crack the protection, but there will always be the hardcore hackers who hack the video and upload it to a P2P network for all to share. Assuming DRM gets so restrictive that it cannot be cracked, what can you possibly do to stop people from pointing video cameras at a monitor or TV screen in their own home?
Cyde Weys Musings - Scrutinizing the inscrutable
Honestly.
Today, it seems, if any recording/playback device is digital in nature, someone, somewhere wants to control/regulate it. At least he's being somewhat open about his feelings - a position we know the industry has wanted for some time.
It'll leave the masses being controlled (more than they are now, that is) and the informed doing "illegal" backup/sharing in the closet, out of fear of (no pun inteded) Mickey-Mouse prosecutions.
No, No, Pluto! That's not a Bone!
.
uR iGn0ranc3, Their Power
Because despite what he says in his blog FM radio is _not_ covered by what Disney asking for. Is it still too much? IMHO. XM Radio and Sirius both already have DRM, if I recall correctly, though you can still make an analog recording (and always will be able to). I could be wrong though, because I only have XM in my car, so it doesn't have any kind of tape outputs or anything. As far as internet radio, they should give up hope of regulating it all. As always, there is the fact that the internet is international. Also, there's nothing stopping you from setting up your own internet radio station, without DRM (other than maybe a couple of FCC regulations if Disney gets their way). Not that they would be able to find you without expending a tremendous amount of resources anyway.
====
Crudely Drawn Games
Why don't Disney save time and energy? Lobby FCC to make all Americans criminal without exception and fine then $1000 a year for even thinking about Disney property. Why bother suing individuals?
Whats your favorite flavor? 1. Windows 2. Linux 3. Mac 4. FCC Implemented
Essentially, Disney wants the FCC to regulate all devices capable of recording from any audio broadcasting medium or from the Internet.
The real question is, what are they going to do when people publish plans to build "unencumbered" devices themselves on the net? Not straight circumvention devices, but devices that don't care about corporate idiocies, "to play free music" say. What will they do? go after the people who made the plans? go after the sites harboring proposing said plans for download? I can see that happen, given how hard it is to find decss.c these days <sarcasm>.
Seriously, these corporate dinosaurs really need to reinvent themselves with regard to revenue models. All these copyright laws, DRM chips, strong-arming and scare tactics,... from them make me think of a falling man grasping on straws. They may eventually bring file-sharing under control, but it'll be a triumph of corporate will against natural human behaviours.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
I believe the fact that we are able to rewatch recorded programs is a happy coincidence of the fact that DRM or self-destructing media have not been practical schemes to date. I suspect our legislators and courts would at least entertain the concept that if it's broadcast once you can timeshift it and consume it only once, as you're effectively getting the same service as you'd get by viewing it during broadcast (with the added feature of skipping commercials).
Disney's trying to get a bigger slice of the pie, of course, but there's nothing inherently wrong with what they're trying to do. If you have a problem I suggest contacting your representatives and electronics/software manufacturers.
Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
-- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.
I've been following this for a while, and until now I haven't said much, instead I've had the thought that since they own the copyright, it's their right to ask the FCC to do this. Until now.
The FCC and other regulatory commissions are there to two do things, the first being make sure that the public interest is taken care of (since they are a by-product of a democratic republic), and the second is otherwise regulate until #1 is met. In this end, they regulate the airwaves, but they've never regulated the technology, only what it can do. For example, you can't make a remote control that operates on the same frequency as other products, and you can't show a nipple on television. What you are allowed to do, however, is to record music and television shows for private use (not public use). Where Disney and other companies miss the mark is that they believe that their customers are inherently bad, and to that end, they should prevent people from taking away from their business venue, and they sincerely believe that they are right by asking the FCC to stop allowing devices to record broadcasts. Disney and other companies must work within the established guidelines set out by the FCC, and what we are witnessing is their attempts to change that landscape to maximize their profits, and minimize piracy. Unfortunatly when they do that, they minimize fair use rights.
War isn't about who's right. It's about who's left.
I'd be willing to bet that when the copyright is up for expiration Disney will lobby for yet another extension (say 100 years) and Congress will be well paid off to approve it. It will undoubtedly be challenged, but when it hits the Supreme Court, the Supreme Idiots In Robes will say its all ok as the time renewal is still finite (which seems to have been the reason they approved the last extension). Of course, Disney should really lobby for a 100,000 year extension on copyright as that too would still be finite and thus ok.
+1 Funny?
More like +4 informative
Is this the golden age of capitalism? We have laws dictated by companies for the profit of companies at the expense of the publics rights.
Will Americans fight back to return control back to the public or will they roll over and keep buying Disney's stuff just to pacify their youngsters?
Well, yes, but remember that copyright applies to anything that is created/creative; and the creator may license the creation as he or she sees fit. DRM had better respect that. As for me, I shall try and persuade my children to license anything they create (until they turn professional) under an open licence such as Creative Commons. I'm sure they will prefer the potential exposure their work will receive. Give it a few years, and the Disneys of this world will be snowed under by people whose work is equally good because of this newfound ability to share.
What about Sharp 777?
I applaud this move. The sooner all this nonsense becomes unbearable, the sooner (educated) consumers will tell the media companies to take their DRM and shove it.
Wow, they definitely don't have the authority to do that.
Considering the implications of the name, you'd figure prisoners wouldn't be anxious to return there.
Alas, the general sentiment of the article goes the other way. Evidently freedom holds more weight with slashbots than something not coming from Redmond.
DRM them, DRM them to hell, DRM them anyhow!
Think of him as an annoying, chain smoking script kiddie. Yeah, the guy can write, but he is 100% knee jerk and a really unhappy guy. If he were famous enough, I'd add him to my death poll bets for 2005 because I've seen people like him burn out early. The one time I posted something to my blog which was critical (intellectually, not knee-jerk emotionally), he went totally off the handle in private e-mail. Don't they have manners in Canada?
The best thing to ask this guy is why we should listen to him if he didn't take the time to get a formal education like the rest of us smart people. Also ask him when he plans to stop beating his dog.
We all would pay royalties whenever we said the words:
micky, mouse, happiest, place, on, earth, walt, and any word ending in 'land'
Go suck Goofy's dick.
Assholes.
in a soundproof room and then cut my own mix CD how does DRM stop me? for video use a digital camcorder
then i put it on a P2P network hosted from Pakistan or on my clandestine 10 Kilowatt WiFi pirate network 12.1 miles from the LA coast.
"Under the sea, that's where Disney will be, under the sea."
. ,
Help end the use of Sigs. Tomorrow
I meant the general sentiment of the comments on the article.
I find it hard to believe that this will happen but maybe I'm just being naive. Can anyone explain to me how the FCC is going to regulate the entire world? Heck the RIAA (or Canadian version) hasn't stopped file sharing in Canada and its unclear whether or not it is illegal to so in Canada. Won't other countries continue to make devices that can record audio broadcasts and/or from the Internet? Sure they can make feeds that require a special player to play but there is nothing stopping a person from recording the sound played through their speakers and circulating that around. Also, last time I checked, I can tune into my local radio station and record it either on a cassette tape or onto my computer very easily and distribute it in other formats on servers located in other countries. Am I missing something here?
Dog for sale: eats anything and is fond of children
They should just patent and copyright the English language, as well as every other popularly spoken language. That way you'll have to pay to listen to it, pay to speak it.
"Your honour this man was found speaking without a DRM registration. We have him on DRM authorized recording saying the word 'Hi'". "You've been found guilty of speaking without a license. This is a very serious offence and you've been sentenced to 3 years in a corrective facility".
Think what I've said is totally ridiculous. Policing the use of recording media is only a little less so.
Patents and copyrights are pure evil and in their current form they need to go before companies do make them draconian in the name of protecting their rights.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
Yeah, that's right, what of consumer choice?
Is FOSS and all other freely distributed media all the sudden non existant or somehow not included in consumer choice?
If the markets are really going to tell the story then what should it say in the even more and more consumers move towards that which needs to regulation?
I guess maybe its a vote for "none of the above"???
But what of the tax payer monies spent on such, if the majority doesn't need or want it?
for the people, by the people????
i didn't know carl rove reads slashdot?!
... we could enlighten the world.
Words to men, as air to birds.
The recording has hidden water markings in the audio, which list your friend as the legal licensee of the music. By pulling the track off the P2P network it's easy to find who's copy it is, and hence who has been copying it illegally.
I don't think your friend will lend you his stereo.
.. DRM is now officially a buzzword.
"It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
I believe when I say, "Fuck That", I speak for all of us.
Supporting World Peace Through Nuclear Pacification
The mpaa/riaa have been pushing this for the beter part of 5 years, can Disney do something that the MPAA can't. I smell a rat here...
What most of the companies advocating DRM fail to realise is, if content can be viewed, listened to or so on, then it can be copied. CD installs anti-copying software? Just plug in the right cables and copy it directly from your CD player. (I'd post a relevant example for film if I could think of one right now, damn caffiene-addled brain).
In the mean time, all that will happen is the corporations will end up angering their loyal customers whilst those who want to pirate continue to do so as they already have. If the companies are that desperate to protect their income stream, they're just going to have to produce a product that people are willing to pay for over pirating.
And tomorrow the stock exchange will be the human race
is not about stopping illegal recording. I suspect that it is about stopping recordings except where the labels give you permission. That would exclude indis from being able to publish. I am guessing that the cost of obtaining a license to allow media to be record will cost a huge chunk of change. In light of RIAA and MPAA now being in control of ex-republicans congressmen, I am guessing that they will be able to push this through.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Problem is that rape often scars people, permanently. People who have been brutalized sometimes go on to brutalized others.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
...and they're going to use their lobby to do incredibly stupid shit like this. They see the writing on the wall, and they know that they only way that can stave off the death of their industry is thru legislation.
This is yet another sign that the publishing industry is running scared, and grasping at straws. They are utterly afraid of the public discovering that publishers aren't really needed anymore, and that they are simply useless middlemen.
The Attitude Adjuster, I hate me, you can too.
then you won't be able to save it to your hard disk because your hard disk won't accept non-DRM files.
Oh you use your old harddisk and old OS instead? Sorry, you can't connect to the internet then.
It's not an matter if this will be the future, it's a matter WHEN it will be.
From Lessig's book Free Culture:
"Indeed, the catalog of Disney work drawing upon the work of others is astonishing when set together: Snow White (1937), Fantasia (1940), Pinocchio (1940), Dumbo (1941), Bambi (1942), /Song of the South (1946), Cinderella (1950), Alice in Wonderland (1951), /Robin Hood (1952), Peter Pan (1953), Lady and the Tramp (1955), Mulan (1998), Sleeping Beauty (1959), 101 Dalmatians (1961), The Sword in the Stone (1963), and The Jungle Book (1967)--not to mention a recent example that we should perhaps quickly forget, Treasure Planet (2003). In all of these cases, Disney (or Disney, Inc.) ripped creativity from the culture around him, mixed that creativity with his own extraordinary talent, and then burned that mix into the soul of his culture. Rip, mix, and burn."
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
This will flop because it will fail in half the old DVD players, youngin's will get angry, then their parents will, and DRM will be removed
Yes, I realize the end points must be analog, but I was meaning more of the storage/transmission stages.
If the 'rest' is 100% digital + drm, and they disallow recording from untrusted sources ( i.e. analog ports, or un-keyed digital to prevent you from whipping up your own A/D set ) then they have practically banned analog..
Sure, there will be some cases that you *need* a microphone, but dont expect that to be on 'conusmer grade' components..My little MD player is like that now.. it only records via digital or optical.. and could easily be wired to not accept non keyed sources... But if you get the pro-grade, you can...
Hmm making all outputs run direct to a Class C amp would work too, its technically not analog... But that's stretching it a bit I know... I think you get my point now
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Deregulation seems to only work one way, in favor of the major corporate interests that the FCC is supposed to protect us from. Instead, in this environment of deregulation, which allows more and more power to be concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, we see who is going to be regulated: the consumer!
Thank you, my fellow Republicans, for blindly following ideology as if it were holy writ.
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
But wouldn't it be easier to reassign all intellectual property rights to Disney?
I think copywrite has a place and protection of art has a place also, but at some time the business model just has to change. Once the medium has become so ubiquitous it seems it is going to be hard to put the toothpaste back in the tube. It is SO easy for distribution of music, video, etc., and any attempt to shut that down will either: be too hard; be too confusing for the mass market consumer; or some mix.
Part of the ability for the artists, the people who create the artists, and the people who owned the artists, to own the marketplace relied heavily on the ability to control the media. With the explosion of media options, control is barely doable, and if doable is going to be way unreasonable.
So, the shift in the business model will be a sea change (a sea++ change?). And while the grubby money mungers at the top have always been able to be filthy rich with their controls and sleezy contracts now they will have to settle for less control, more flexible contracts with artists, and ultimately less wealth. They'll be dragged kicking and screaming, but eventually that's where I see the marketplace going.
(case in point: Grateful Dead completely bypassing the record industry, and basically cutting CD's live and in person at their concerts.... and encouraging fans to make copies....)
All these posts saying "If it can be heard, it can be copied" and the ilk are missing the point. The publishing industry's agenda for perpetuating their needless existance is something like:
It's not going to matter if it can be copied-- simply the act of having the capability to copy will be illegal. If you don't have all DRM-compliant devices, or if you tamper with your DRM-compliant devices, you'll be charged and trucked off to prison.
We need a revolution in "intellectual propery", and we need it quickly. Too many people already fail to understand that the system is a social contract, and the terms of that contract are negotiable by the people-- not dictated by the corporations.
It is no stretch to think that, if they could get it, the DRM helmet is their ultimate goal.
The Attitude Adjuster, I hate me, you can too.
You're absolutely right. They've already made it illegal to sing "happy birthday" without permission and royalties. That's part of my culture and language.
I mean, I don't want to be on Disney's bad side, and since the scope so easily records waveforms, I guess I'm going to need a firmware upgrade or something.
There are three main approaches to implementing DRM:
* Disable use on systems after a leak and redistribution. Generally done with some kind of watermarking scheme. Never going to happen. Watermarking is a cute research idea, but it turns out that efficient compression (eliminating data that isn't visually/aurally important) eliminates the same set of data that watermarks need to play with. There are a host of other problems as well -- generally, if someone can detect a watermark, they can remove it. Caught a bit of interest early on, pretty much went away.
* Stop redistribution after a leak. The RIAA/MPAA are still working on this, but it's ultimately a doomeed effort. Computers and networks were made to copy data.
* Try to prevent the inital copy from leaking. Never going to happen. There are too many places for an initial leak to come from with any kind of widely-distributed data. There's a hybrid approach using this and watermarks to identify initial leaks followed by legal action against the source of the leak. This doesn't even work against small-scale distribution systems like screener DVDs -- it will *not* work for a large-scale system.
That's not so bad. It just means that the econonmy of our society is changing once again. Attempts to keep the rules from shifting and the econonmy from adjusting are as useless as the feudal lords trying to keep merchants from becoming the new powerful class.
May we never see th
It's a world of laughter
A world of tears
It's a world of hopes
And a world of fears
There's so much that we share
That it's time we're aware
It's a small world after all
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
I don't think Piracy is the real concern here. It's all these irritating people who are avoiding the goal of the media oligarchs to control *all* media, all content, all music.
Once only the RIAA can manufacture music that can be played they can finally crush all those troublesome musicians, artists, actors and film directors because there will be nowhere else to go, there will be no alternative music available in the USA.
It is the same play that was made by threatening CD manufacturers with lawsuits for aiding and abetting that was used to make it harder for small businesses to get CD music manufactured, and which backfired only because the CD writer became cheap.
The media companies wish the printing press to be a monopoly granted by government (to them of course). It worked in the USSR why shouldn't it work in the USSA
I'd like to have a DOOM 3 map where the Disney logo is a substitute for the pentagram... ;)
Is this the golden age of capitalism?
Don't you mean the Dark Ages of Capitalism?
Those who would give up liberty in exchange for security and DRM should switch to Microsoft Palladium!
DRM requires network. Otherwise it loses all its strength (if it can be done just by local hardware, it can be done by local (my) software.)
Does it mean all DVD players, home cinemas, tape recorders, walkmans, discmans, pocket MP3 players and all that is supposed to be networked? And what about computers, say I pay for modem, do I have to pay for 1.5h long distance call if I want to view 1.5h DVD movie?
Either they are very stupid or VERY greedy.
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
... to show them you disagree, if, of course, you do.
...Makes no difference who you are
DRM makes DVDs
Completely screwed
If your heart is in your dream
No request is even seen
DRM makes DVDs
Ape-flung poo
Like a bolt out of the blue
Hard disk erased and screen blank too
When you play with DRM
Your dreams are through
I didn't know he could read...
What he's quoting
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Then Disney wouldn't have been able to steal also many movie plots from Rudyard Kipling and the Grimm Brothers and Hans Christian Anderson.
Infuriate left and right
respect for this company. And to that end I've pretty much written them off for my kids, no movies, no mickey, no TV shows, no web site visits and fuck'em if they think I'm going to spend a dime at one of their parks!!!
It's a constant battle hith my oldest she wants to watch thier crappy tv shows, I mean what kind of fucking pedifiles work for that company anyways? Who the hell thinks a twelve year old needs to dress and slut around like Brittney "Dumbass" Spears?
Who the fuck is this and why do we care to read his "blog" (sic)??
You're talking about corporationism and ultimately fascism.
The only thing magic about Disney these days is their almost bottomless capacity for greed. Their products are unimaginative, formulaic and their theme parks are little better than entertainment sweat shops. Disney lawyers suing day care centers for having the audacity to paint one of their characters on a wall, DRM, the Bono Act. The list gets rather lengthy.
A greedy, ugly, disgusting company.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
For one, it just might not happen. For another, there's a bigger revolution than intellectual property brewing.
-I am an elective eunuch.
quoted from Ebert's review of "The Corporation" ...*** ...what kind of people are they?
*** BEGIN QUOTE
"...a corporation is not a thing but a person. The U.S. Supreme Court so ruled...
The movie asks Robert Hare, a consultant who helps the FBI profile its suspects. His diagnosis: Corporations by definition have a personality disorder and can be categorized as psychopathic. That is because they single-mindedly pursue their own wills and desires without any consideration for other people (or corporations) and without reference to conventional morality. They don't act that way to be evil; it's just, as the scorpion explained to the frog, that it's in their nature."
*** END QUOTE ***
SO... The ENTERTAINMENT industry -that one central irreplacable sine qua non ("without which nothing") of life, human existance, human society, and indeed the physical exitance of the universe itself- wants its interests to be a central issue in all decisions regarding equipment that is basic to life in a technological society. Apparently, the Psychopaths are making their bids for control of the Asylum... through the appropriate channels and with the full assent of the properly constituted authorities!
Are we really That far gone?
that as copyright lengths have increased, the quality of Disney's products have dropped precipitously, to the point where they outsource most creativity and storytelling, certainly anything successful.
I would submit that this isn't just a correlation, but actually causative. Lord knows no one would shed any tears if that lame ass cow movie was lost to the ages.
Yup, Lion King is actally a rip-off too.
They compied almost all from (in the asian are popular and well-known) Tezuka's "Kimba the White Lion"
That alone would not be that bad, but Disney simply refuses to acknowledge the deed. A simple "based upon the works of" or "inspired by" would have acknowledged the original creators work, and cost Disney only about... nothing.
More info here: http://www.kimbawlion.com/rant2.htm
+++ MELON MELON MELON +++ Out of Cheese Error +++ redo from start +++
two words: Free Mickey!
Back in the Soviet Union, they had extreme security for anything that could be used for duplication of information, lest it be used for spreading subversive information. Now Disney wants the same thing, except that the claimed reason is different. The ability to quickly and easily spread information as far and wide as possible is what has allowed our society to get as far as it has. Now they want DRM technologies so that information flow would be restricted. This is about as far from progress as a proposed law can get
-and surprisingly, I am. I checked. The phrase "Fuck Disney" appeared nowhere on this page before this post.
Albuquerque PC
Dilbert
Correct one
don't you wish Concast bought disney?
anyone could copy media, with a tape recorder from 10 years ago. How will the FCC keep track of all that?
Try this
Like the boston tea party, only with DVDs, and at Disneyland.
I didn't know Karl Marx posted on slashdot either!
I haven't seen any problems with the wireless networks, but i have seen the networks cause big problems for the phones.
My roommate's bf claims that if he walks by his laptop with his 2.4G cordless turned on, his laptop drops link, but I haven't seen it. I know it'll definitely cause the phone's range to suck, though.
"Champagne for my real friends - and real pain for my sham friends!" http://ericblade.postalboard.com/
I know this is so so off-topic, but its kinda fitting and without even reading the article im sure its obvious this is this years nomination for crazyest crack-induced suggestion by a corporation so its just not worth it. All these media giants are going crazy over making sure their films and 'entertainment' are protected more than most government documents (although in reality we all know how secure DRM is and how well people look after their laptops full of secret data) but theres a really interesting trend you can see for yourself on imdb.com - on the world-wide top rated of all time film list, almost every film was made before the last ten years, but on the world-wide top box-office earning list, almost all the films (that have made the most money) are from the last ten years. So to sum up, all the media companies are really keen to make sure you buy their films, yet they have been poor films but more money than ever before! infact almost every new release seems to be a box-office record breaker, but lets not forget, the last ten years have given us Gigli, Torque and Crossroads! how can they be making so much money with so much crap? My theory is its a conspiracy (obviously) and they are trying to get rid of the means for the masses to make their own entertainment (limit the quality of cameras and audio equipment without a license) after that and DRM they can make us watch whatever they want, why? because (double conspiracy) they have embedded subliminal messaging into films that will turn us into their slaves! the new overlords are comming!
sorry i kinda discredited the rest of the post there..
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
1)by the time what you're proposing happens, the media will control all forms of education. So your "educated" consumer might not be educated the way you anticipate.
2)those consumers who are actually disgruntled will be (even more) marginalised than they are now, and their telling the media companies anything will be little more than a low wimper.
We're fucked, full stop, end of story.
The community needs a concentrated effort to pressure the hardware companies for a Linux BIOS whose page appears to be missing. The last time I read something on the Linux BIOS, perhaps here on
While the hardware manufacturers (esp. motherboard manufacturers) want to keep their code secret for competitive reasons, they are also part of the manufacturers that banded together to oppose drm several years ago in Congressional hearings, even at one point during those meetings threatening to buy out Hollywood if it became necessary (should be Intel rep comments to Valenti, during Commerce Committee hearing on drm, over an issue of letters exchanged, and delayed responses between the MPAA and the tech industry, over the drm issue). At that point, tech was generally opposed to drm, with exceptions on companies who were in a position to benefit from drm (Miron's company, one of the drm solution providers, Microsoft, and other drm solution providers), while hardware manufacturers such as Phillips, and other entertainment device companies opposed, as well as other (mp3, Rio style) hardware sellers opposed.
If the MPAA/RIAA is given the control it is seeking (a cash register button replacing the record button, as previously reported:
*Excerpt of letter to Cary H. Sherman, President, RIAA, from Gary Shapiro, President & CEO, Consumer Electronics Association, 4/15/04, responding to a fax, by Cary H. Sherman to Gary Shapiro, at 14:30, 4/14/04, with this attempt at greasing the wheels:
Sources
), they'll need control over the BIOS. That's why Microsoft is pushing so hard in this area, and why the Linux community must push back just as hard, and get the Linux BIOS.
5 second boot times were promised with a Linux BIOS. I'm still waiting. For the BIOS, and for my computer to boot up.
Another recen
How far are these people willing to go? The only way they can stop people from writing applications that don't bother to obey DRM is to make compilers illegal.
Its about controll.
:)
Big Media wants to make it such that devices that play non-DRM media are illegal.
This would mean that if you wanted to create content (music, movies, probobly also Software if companies like M$ get in on the act), you need to pay big $$$ to Big Media to do so (and since they have a monopoly, they can, if they dont like the content you want to create, refuse to licence to you period).
What I want to know is why the big Technology companies (who have the most to loose from this action) dont get together and fight back...
Companies like ATI, NVIDIA, Intel, AMD, IBM and others. Not to mention companies built around "free software" like RedHat. As well as organizations like the EFF and FSF. If these groups got together to fight Big Media... (remember, the technology industry is BIGGER than the media industry in terms of total $$$)
If needs be, use their own dirty tricks against them (back-door "secret" payments to congress etc)
Although on the other hand, I suspect that there is some reason I havent thought of as to why opposing this would actually be bad rather than good for the tech companies
Thank goodness for litigators,
I was thinking it would be too hard to be a top rated criminal mastermind in the 21st century, now all I need to do is find a way to bulk copy a bunch of crappy disks. After I go down and they prove I cost shareholders tens of millions of dollars we'll be talking book deals, made for TV movies, action figures, the works... Then some ass will come along and make illegal copies of my big screen movie? Its just not fair I tell you!
I believe when I say, "que sera, sera". We all know this is going to go through; enjoy your already-limited freedoms while they last.
You cannot truly appreciate Dilbert until you read it in the original Klingon.
Boing Boing has another Disney story today. A Fox News interview went on the attack over the new Disney PC. In a strange conspiratorial twist, he linked Gay Days at the theme parks with the new Disney children's computer. I never would have put those two together myself.
If they find that by securing for a given time, even if limited, securing the exclusive rights to Authors and Inventors does not promote the Progress of Science and usefull Arts they have grounds to oppose the extension.
How many of you bitch about this stuff and never once write an official?
You're the real bustards for letting them take away your freedoms, not the people who try to, their just looking out for their bottom line, which is exactly what you can expect from a capitalistic nation duh, you work for these companies, you buy their crap and bltch all the way home. Hypocritical fruckers you all are.
Freedom isn't free it costs a frucking stamp you lazy shlts.
Ha ha haa! Now K's of /.ers have had their sub-concious /.ed by those damn singing kids! Now, if Disney could figure a way to get $ each time THAT song goes around in someone's head...
This one gang kept wanting me to join cause I'm pretty good with a bo staff.
That day happened about four years ago for me. I haven't bought, rented, downloaded, or copied anything. No movies, no DvDs, no VHS, no CDs. Nothing. It hasn't been that hard. really. In fact, I'd call it a non-event. Life goes on, except that I'm not shelling out my money to the greedy media companies- that's really the only difference. People have to got over the idea that they'll suffer some immense hardship if they aren't constantly pre-occupying themselves with the latest releases.
While the FCC is asking the question about copy protection for digital broadcast radio, as it stands they do not really have the authority to actually mandate any copy protection for it. I'm pretty sure that those in charge are aware of that as well.
The only reason the broadcast flag for TV happened was because Congress gave the FCC broadened authority to move the DTV transition. That expanded authority is missing for digital radio, and will likely never happen.
So, calls for the FCC to mandate DRM will not likely work, and if the FCC tries, it would probably be killed by a court appeal. Watch Congress - that's where anything important will happen.
I have Sirius, and while I understand the compression technology is different between XM and Sirius, the underlying fidelity isn't significantly different.
Despite what the services (and other people) tell you, its not CD quality. Its not close to CD quality. People who can't tell the difference should be happy, because they can't tell the difference.
If I can describe the sound, at its best, it sounds like something that is somewhat better than FM. The Dynamic Range is better than FM usually is, but not what FM really can be.
As to the sound, Imagine a 96-128 VBR MP3, and I think that it kind of pegs it. Now, there are times when it sounds like a 96kb/s MP3 run through a shortwave transmitter. Its a combination of digital artifacts and some sort of weird phase thing that reminds me of short wave.
Sirius fiddles with their compression all the time. Constantly. Channels will be good one day, and virtually unlistenable the next. Some people seem more bothered by this, others never seem to notice.
But the bottom line is that this would be no better than taping from FM radio, although the DJ's talk somewhat less, so I guess you'd have less chatter. If the RIAA is worried about people taping from satellite radio, then they just have too much time on their hands.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
My brain can record audio from the internet (I can remember what I heard -- ever get a song stuck in your head). Are they going to try to regulate that too?
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
I fear that most people are already too far gone. Most poor bastards don't have enough independent thought left to even think that it's possible to question a notion like "A creator should receive economic compensation every time their work is copied". People simply think that the current system is "just the way it is", and their hobbled minds aren't flexible enough to even comprehend that things could be different.
This statement is VERY consistent with my experience of non-geeks. I actually DO socialize with non-geeks on a regular basis (I don't even refer to them as non-geeks...thats just for the benefit of slashdot). They are utterly unaware of these intellectual property issues, and they DO all blindly accept the notion that content creators should have complete control of content use until the end of time, and so on. The history of copyright law, the ideals of public domain, and so on, are completely lost on them.
Stupidity and ignorance are outright dangerous. Unfortunately, pointing out one's stupidity/ignorance is never well-received.
Flamebait my left nut! I couldn't have said it better myself.
LRM is a Legal Rights Management system designed to control legal rights given to corporations for the protection of humanity. The system will allow corporations to exist and to run business under fair-trade conduct but will prevent them from stealing the rights of others. LRM will also provide mechanisms to control corporations for the purpose of new and exciting business methods such as limited time models and restricted mergers. under the *IT TACA DA PISS Act, LRM will be mandatory for all registered corporations. The following is a brief guide to the key features of the proposed LRM:
- Limited Time Models:
Corporations will be allowed to use business models for a limited time only determined by public vote. For example, the distribution and sale of plastic disks containing digitally encoded video and audio maybe restricted by public vote to a time of (for example) 1 year. After this time the corporation or corporations would be forbidden from practising this business model.
- Restricted Mergers:
The number of mergers or 'buy outs' a corporation will be permitted to perform would be determined and hard coded into this legislation. After the allowed number of mergers a corporation would have to be liquidated (the assets rewarded to the tax payer) and rebuilt to regain its allowance.
- Fair-trade Conduct:
A democratic process will exist for the regulation of all corporate entities. Voting by the general population will determine rules by which corporations must follow. Such rules could include the restriction of DRM technology in products that are deemed 'aggressive' by the voters and the clear labelling or banning of products that attempt to tamper with the parameters of existing playback devices (such tampering if not clearly labelled may be deemed criminal intrusion of a remote computer system). Flaws in products may also require clear labelling including the lack of security measures deemed vital at the time of production.
- The restriction of 'tools' for the purpose of by-passing LRM
Lawyers, Head-quarter Relocation, Campaign Contributions, 'Politicians', Sponsored School Education Programmes and 'Remakes' will be banned, their use, trafficking, sale, possession and discussion will be offences subject to fines of up to $10,000,000,000 (which will be rewarded to the tax payer) or 2 years corporate suspension (from a tall building).
*IT TACA DA PISS Act:
It Takes Ages Creating A Decent Anagram Politicians IMFO Should Stop.
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
And why would Congress knowingly cut off one of their sources of bribes^H^H^H^H^H^Hcampaign contributions for the next 50,000 congressional elections?
why should the FCC take suggestions from failing companies? Disney can't put out a hit this year and they are who you are going to listen to about media?
[N/T]
FCC: Hi Mr. Eisner! How can we help you today?
Michael Eisner: Hi, I'd like to mandate Digital Rights Management on all hardware please.
FCC: Ummm, this is the FCC... we do broadcasts. Not hardware and encoding standards. Perhaps you should speak to the manufacturers, or Congress?
Michael Eisner: Awww, come ooon! You gotta help us, they won't listen to us anymore. They just keep going on and on about how Digital Rights Management is soooo completely not feasible. They won't listen to reason! And well, Congress.. there are a few there that will ah, *cough* listen *cough* to us. But those damned manufacturers keep brib... er, lobbying Congress to block our initiatives! Besides, if you can get me strong encryption hardware on every DVD player, there might be a little something in it for you, IF you know what I mean... *wink* *wink*
FCC: Mandating that every DVD player bound for North Korea have hardware level support for strong cryptography? You're in the wrong place. You need to talk to the Bureau of Information and Security. But I can save you a trip. The answer is NO. Next.
STFU Adolf Hitler...
Have you got your Listener's License?
Listen and heed. It's coming, unless we stop it.
I must have the director's cuts of some of those Disney movies, because I just got through watching The Jungle Book and there wasn't a stitch of clothing on that oh-so-friendly bear. Also, in Dumbo they try to draw your attention away from it but if you freezeframe it you see that the mouse doesn't have pants on, just a shirt...
- First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
*gay voice* "haha! looks like disney doesnt really care about children as much as you think pluto!"
This is where china will wip the ass of the US.
Soon enough the US will have too many finances tied up in non productive businesses(ie copyright) that dont produce anything new. The cost of a cd or dvd is null. Trying to elevate its cost through copyright will only reduce available funds to be provided for other advancements.This will snowball. Soon everything will be copyrighted or owned, so you had better go back to horse and cart...oh wait to late for that too.
Meanwhile, china will produce cd's and dvds and sell them as a insignificant cost to the economy and put its funds into producing more and more advanced tech. etc etc.. China will end up with advanced tech companies. The US will end up with 1940's copyrighted films, played over and over and over again.
Catilism applies to things that have a cost to "reproduce" -not things that can be produced without cost in limitless numbers. On the other hand communism loves things that can be produced without cost.
When capatilism and communism was invented, no one considered items that can be produced without cost.
time for a rethink fellas. I think a few new strategies might be worth considering.
I feel sorry for you poor suckers in the US, oh wait damn im in aus:(
When you outlaw Non-DRM audio, only outlaws will use Non-DRM audio!
M-I-C-K-E-Y
O-U-S-O-B!
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
You design the product in a way that's "legal" but which is sufficiently easy to be broken to spur a market with "aftermarket mods" in the target country. Then you're legally clean, while the consumers can get what they want.
That can be potentially countered in multiple ways.
The best way is to sidestep linking between the watermark and the physical identity. Perhaps by buying a physical medium with cash, or secondhand. The other best way is to remove or "jam" the watermarks. Whatever can go in, can go out.
Then there is the possibility to jam the system as a whole. A dark-side method is a worm, randomly stealing and distributing the watermarked files. Dozens of millions of innocent people looking like the Evil Infringers could be a decent smokescreen. Bring doubts to the enforcement.
Touched a commie nerve.
TWO POINTS!!!
Actually i think they might be on to something here - we live in a democratic society right? so how about we put it to the people, do you want:
a) Mandatory devices on all digital audio recorders that control what you can and cant record and recording off digital radio (just like you used to record off analog radio) to be illigal.
or b) No high quality digital _Disney_ radio service
Yes we can all live without Disney (i've been living without them for years)
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
Nobody takes away your right to spread your information. What you really want is free access to other people's work.
Make the TV go both ways.
These implants would detect when you have a song stuck in your head, and on each such occasion, cause the appropriate sum of money to be transferred from your bank account to that of the appropriate copyright holder. For your convenience, the same implant could also be used to detect thoughtcrime, using rules similar to those in spam filtering software. Matching one of these rules would be considered an automatic conviction under the law, with no due process, no investigation, no arrest, and no trial. The implant would simply cut off the flow of blood to the brain. This feature would, of course, be utilized by the primary feature of the implant, in that if your bank account runs out of money and you get a song stuck in your head, the flow of blood will be cut off.
Because the brain is one of the most prevalent devices out there that can record audio.
Who the hell do they think they are?
They got filthy rich on the cartoons of their founder. Now they're trying to lock up the world into encrypted DRM hell?
If you're worried about your movies getting leaked on the internet, deal with it yourself (like the special DVDs for screeners). I've got no problem with that.
Hire security guards to shoot filmers in the cinema. I don't give a damn.
Bring out your movies on super secure quartz atomic encrypted cubes - I dont care, I'll get a player IF I WANT.
But dont you DARE go sticking your nose into how I store my personal data and creations.
If it forcibly comes into my house (broadcast) and I can legally watch/hear it, then I can also find a way to record it, whether using a needle and hot wax or a fast learning talking parrot. TURN OFF THE TRANSMITTER if that upsets you.
Here we go again:
DRM will be a disaster once:
- keys start getting lost, corrupted or failed
- key providing/validation services go under/
ot they abandon your DRM format
(side note: if Win 2.0 had activation, would
MS still provide me a key if I had to
get an install going NOW to run some old
software????)
- your hardware fails or is stolen (and all
your media was tied to some unique key
therein)
- your media is partially corrupted
(good luck recovering DRM encoded material
off media with corrupt TOCs or bad blocks).
"The ones who leech off the talented are the ones who run the show."
...is that Disney was one of the VERY FIRST to LITERALLY circumvent copyright law in order to keep their Mickey Mouse in their possession for longer than the law says they can. This is what REAL copyright circumvention is. The perfect example of why the rules don't apply to the gigantic conglomerates, but the rest of us can all go to Hell.
I am NOT a number! I am a - oh wait, I'm number 761710. Look! 761710!
They are wasting their own time and money. Why do they bother coming up with these hairbrained anti-piracy schemes when within the space of 3 days, some spotty teen who lives in a basement is able to break it and spread the hack far and wide? They are better off making good content than trying to protect the usual pap they are trying to sell.
RebateFX.com - Spread rebates for Forex traders
a lot of disney stuff is made from expired copyright. If disney wants to have a ban on expiry, then it should be retro-active, paying royalties to the descendants of the brothers grimm, or whoever else came before them.
not that i give a rat's ass about copyright, drm, or any other half baked, double bribed legislation that comesout of the usa
I heard a report on NPR very early in the morning (when they play anything controversial) a few years ago about how the two main USA prison corportations (Wackenhut and Corrections Corporation of America) actually did fund Political Action Committees to lobby for ever-increasing prison sentences for minor crimes. In a real sense this is a form of modern slave-trading. The private for-profit prison corporation lobbies for vastly increased prison sentences for minor crimes like personal drug possession. Then when the large inmate population, they sell the living bodies of the prisoners to the drug companies for studies on experimental drugs. Then the drug companies sell the new drugs on television in commercials that are focused on the very personal issues that drives people to seek mild illegal drugs in the first place. For example, the drugs that a advertised on TV in the USA for 'shyness' or 'insecurity' or 'social withdrawal'.
Looks to me like the private prison corporations, the government, and the drug companies are trying to put all the black men in prison and turn all the white people into junkies for their own giant profit. Looks to me like the triangle trade all over again. In the 1700s it was black African slaves, rum, and cotton. In the 2000s it's black African-American slaves, drugs, and government prison contracts.
It's an illusion that black slavery ever ended in America. It still goes on, but in a different form. It's even more profitable for the slave traders now; they don't even have to buy the slaves, they figured out how to get the government to buy the slaves for them with our tax dollars.
though I do believe corporations already use terrorism to get what they want (SCO, RIAA, etc.)
Terrorism is the use of mass murder of random people to invoke political changes.
The SCO and RIAA use laws in a court room to force specific people to surrender property for engaging in specific activities.
SCO and RIAA do not use terrorism to achieve their goals. This is a bad choice of metaphor because it trivalizes the actions of murderers and over-exagerates the SCO and RIAA actions.
The guy who runs Amazon books has been buying tons and tons of paperback books.
He ships them to India where people strip off the covers, cut the pages from the bindings, and feed the individual pages into OCR scanners. Thousands of books are going into this guy's personal database.
What is means is that the works are not lost, even though the works are copyrighted and the 'owners' refuse to allow them to be republished in inexpensive public domain collections.
However when the law changes, this guy will 'own' all these works because he is the only one in the world who actually has a copy. So in 100 years this guy's heirs or corporation will 'own' 98% of the books printed in the 20th century.
Hear, hear! I haven't managed to be quite as austere as you, but I'm working on it. Boycott is the only way. Put the bastards out of business. Once their temple is razed to the ground, something else will spring up in its place. If it's no better, we'll burn that one down, too.
Anyway, why not make your own music? God forbid that people might actually get in touch with their own human abilities again, realize that they have that power within them. Not-so-coincidentally, this is also part of the cure for the pathology gripping America now: People don't believe they can create, but only consume, and they've lost touch with any sense of self-worth. Not everyone, of course, but it's a growing plague.
As I see it,
the Disney Imagery is largely stolen fropm European scenery when good ole Walt traveled Spain and Germany and elsewhere.
All those nifty little steep castles? Moorish towers?
Stolen from the collective European public legacy. Pay up. Already. Oh and that cute little fish/woman? Obviously stolen from copenhagen..
"Dread"
I think you mean "exorbitant", not "exurbanite". Good point though.
We elected the politicians who listened to the lobbyists. Whoops. All the lobbyists and campaign donations are only as effective as voters allow them to be. Lobbyists do not automatically get what they want, by virtue of being lobbyists. A lobbyists job is to get the politician (usually by spending money at fundraisers and the like) to hear out their argument. Almost any issue has a hundred different lobbyists pulling at the politician in 100 different ways, often in completely different directions. Rather then delusions of a new slavery (prisons are a huge expense to the state, and produce only tiny amounts of revenue through voluntary work programs) it is more likely Wackenhut hired the lobbyists to buy their way into a little face-to-face time with some politicians to say "Hey, we think prison is a good way to deal with criminals, but criminals who get out too early due to prison overcrowding are x% more likely to become repeat offenders, we think you should make them stay in longer and give the fine people at Wackenhut the contract cause their so darn swell." The politician may take their advice, or he may decide its bunk, or the million other groups lobbying him to reduce prison spending have more political power, etc. It only makes sense for a large corporation that works closely with the government to spend moeny to represent their interests to the government (and they proably wouldnt be in the prison business if they didnt think long prison sentences for criminals was a good idea). And the whole reason campaign contributions exist is because campaigns have steadily become more costly circuses (all those tv ads full of fluff gotta be paid for by someone) and less discussion of the issues of the candidates. The blame for this can be laid solely at the feet of the American voter (although it is the same in about every democratic country throughout history).
The money would be spent for even MORE prisons.
Soon, there will be more inmates in the US than there are regular free-voting citizens.
US of A, the land of the criminals.
It looks like the article jumped the gun. I don't see Disney suggesting that the so-called "analog hole" should be plugged. It looks more like they are interested in DRM for DIGITAL BROADCASTS ONLY. Yeah, the whole idea of broadcast flags suck, but it's a far cry from Disney suggesting that any device capable of recording should be changed to suit Disney's demands, which is a conclusion the blog poster seems to have incorrectly jumped to.
-R
It scares me because I've listened to the whole backlog of Tales From the Afternow (free internet radio drama). In the distopian future it describes, all unregulated media and media devices are illegal, and ownership is grounds for removal of your Listeners Liecence.
"Unregulated Knowledge is pornography"
Time is copyright, so you can't own a watch unless you're in a business that pays its fee. Else that's temporal piracy.
The show was a wonderful piece of entertainment when I first listened. Then I started noticing people actually DOING THIS STUFF.
Advised listening environment is near-darkness candlelight, late in the eveing, alone, with headphones. That's good old pre-DMA headphones. This is afterall, a pirate radio broadcast, in Queens English, from sometime after now...
http://www.theafternow.com/
..because we wouldn't want anyone for instance talking about a real good movie without having corporate right management protecting the oneliners out of that movie.
As such, why don't we "right manage" our books as well, coz' we don't want anyone else to borrow it now do we ?
I guess we could copyright just about everything, coz' a lot has already been done in the movies and such.
We could even "right manage" politics I guess. Make sure noone uses the same plan for a better economy/environment but you. I can already see the headlines:
President-elect no longer elected because of right management violation of section 3, article D through F off his opponents welfare-plan.
I see a great future for this rights management thing...
However, cat owners are not held legally responsible for their felines actions (in England anyway) :-)
Disney - pay tax and we may listen to you.
This is a good example of why eDonkey and KaZaA are better than BitTorrent and Freenet would be even better if it worked. We don't need a P2P system that is used to share legitimate files, like Linux ISOs. We need a P2P system that would contain a copy of each work of art in history. We need a P2P system that would provide indiscriminate free access to all art and knowledge ever created every human on Earth.
0 1892|F1932 2EDFD0646013AAFABE1460E8296|/ :(
And so far eDonkey is the closest one to this ideal. You just need to know the size (33701892 bytes) and the MD5 hash (F19322EDFD0646013AAFABE1460E8296) to reconstruct a link to a famous cartoon.
ed2k://|file|guesswhatthenameis.mpg|337
BTW, this cartoon and everything created until 1970 is in public domain in my country. Sadly, the "harmonisation" of the "IP" laws is underway even here.
Future Wiki -- If you don't think about the future, you cannot have one.
My abridged version:
"I don't care if Clinton was already impeached. I want to crack him in the mouth with my fist anyway."
What the RIAA and SCO do is extortion, not terrorism. Extortion is using authority to force unwarrented payments by using the unauthorized extension of the authority to extract payments that are for the personal benefit of the perp.
Terrorism is random violent murder for vaguely defined and unobtainable politcal goals. RIAA extortion is getting a letter saying give us $2000 or we will use all of our Harvard Law School Grads to take everything you own, the choice is yours.
Terrorism is getting your legs blown off because the Arab in the back of the bus you were on blew himself up in the name of his imaginary god and country.
Big difference, if you please.
...who release a 50-year-old movie on DVD for a limited time until "it goes back into the vaults" to create an artificial demand. If that isn't a big "$^%*&$ you!" to their customers I don't know what is.
Let's face it, Disney once made a lot of great entertainment, and still make some, but they have given up any pretense of being anything but a soulless corporation driven by naked greed.
Kinda like Microsoft, actually.
I also love how every DVD advertisement uses the phrase "OWN IT!" when far from owning it, you are gradually being deprived even of Fair Use rights.
Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings. And every time a movie company advertises that you can "OWN IT!" an angel gets kicked in the head.
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
What do I do about my 8-track?
Mouse In Black
...I Am One Sick Puppy...
What are you suggesting in leiu of corporations and government to solve our problems?
----- Question authority, but not ours. Hate the man, but we're not him.
One particular problem I have with this issue is precisely where the money comes from, and where it goes. You spoke before of "entitlement", but on the flip side of that is your unspoken assumption that the drug developers are entitled to a profit.
Sure, developing drugs is an expensive business. But how much drug development is actually sponsored by government grants, i.e. by your and my tax money? How much of the massive budgets these drug companies make public are actually going towards non-development costs like advertising, distribution, lobbying, and doctor kickbacks?
When a significant portion of drug development is paid for with government funds, using government facilities being operated in part by government employees, I must say that yes, I do feel entitled to those drugs. And not because I'm some sponger, or because I feel that patents are crap, but because I've already paid for the drugs. I feel no compunction to ensure that these CEOs get their bonuses, or that the shareholders make a mint. What about my return on investment as a taxpayer?
...
So, to bring your question back into scope, I think corporations and government might have a use in this construct, but the undeniably corrupt way in which the pharmaceutical industry is bending the public sector to its will in service of a voracious appetite for profit is becoming a genuine hazard to public well-being. Somehow we need to prune the pharmaceutical industry, find a way to reduce its lobbying clout. Sure, profits are great. How about doing it the way other, less politically connected industries do it -- making a good product as cheaply as possible? Drugs that fill an urgent immediate need, like the AIDS drugs, should receive more public funding, and be sold at a discount as a result -- as they've already been partially paid for.
It galls me extremely to see how much the pharmaceutical companies harp on about profits when they're already so busy sucking on the public teat. Forgive me if this post has been somewhat strident, for it touches a nerve.
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."