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French Courts Ban DRM on DVDs
blamanj writes "According to a story on Boing-Boing, the French courts have banned DRM copy-protection on DVDs, because it is a consumer right to make a backup or to change formats (in this case, to VHS). Original story (in French) is also available."
For the humor-impaired, this was an attempt to make fun of people who fear culture, liberty, and peace on the grounds that it sounds to homosexuality, piracy, and pupppet governments. Just because it's not funny is no excuse to fail to recognize this as an attempt at humor and not dialog.
"I have never won a debate with an ignorant person." -Ali ibn Abi Talib
I don't like DRM any more than the next guy (and yes, I have pirated movies/music/software), but who the hell is the French government to say what kind of copy protection companies can and cannot put on their own damn products? Like it or not, those companies OWN that content, and they are selling it to you. If they don't want you to copy it, they have every right to put a copy protection scheme on it beforehand. That doesn't mean that the buyer wont eventually crack it, but they can put it there. Hey, let's all hop on the gravy train here. While we're at it, let's start bashing NDA's, EULAs, and anything else that puts any kind of restriction whatsoever on the use of media, because consumer freedom means being able to do anything you want!! Again, I'm no schill for the RIAA/MPAA stuffed suits. Those guys are a bunch of assholes. But they do have the right to try and protect their products, at least as far as copy protecting it with harmless DRM that wont damage any equipment/data. All their pocket stuffing in governments and legal bullshit, however...
It ended worse for you americans, look where the war on ira^H^H^Hterror has taken your economy.
Slashdot needs a "+1 racist" moderation. The previous topic mentions "Indians" and is full of the same predictable slurs.