Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

RIAA vs Linux and DVDs

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the something-to-think-about dept.

PlayfullyClever writes "The entertainment industry has put itself on the fast-track to destruction, using well-proven tactics as explained in Preventing DVD Playback on Linux Like Prohibition in the 1920's. Are their heavy-handed tactics to lock up and control everything we touch signs of plain old human stubborness?" Or more likely- greed.

25 of 415 comments (clear)

  1. Who's doing what to whom when how? by fembots · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I did read the friendly article but couldn't quite connect RIAA with Linux and DVDs.

    There's no mention of RIAA/music/movie in the article, and hardly any mention of Linux.

    So what's happening now? Is it some kind of bullets, leathers and baked beans? Someone please enlighten me.

    --
    Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
    1. Re:Who's doing what to whom when how? by Golias · · Score: 5, Funny

      Prohibition in the 1920s was actually very successful at preventing DVD playback on Linux, so I guess the thinking is that it's a pretty good model to go with.

      Unfortunately, it's kinda tricky:

      Step One: Don't invent the DVD yet.

      Step...

      D'oh!

      --

      Information wants to be anthropomorphized.

    2. Re:Who's doing what to whom when how? by sd_diamond · · Score: 5, Funny

      I do know that the open-source liquor industry has gone way downhill since Prohibition was lifted.

  2. This article.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    .... besides making no sense whatsoever, is depressingly difficult to masturbate to.

  3. Fear more than greed by Shadow+Wrought · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The executives making the decisions don't understand the technology and have fortunes built upon the success of Brittney Spears. They are trapped by their own business models and the only way out is something not only new and unproven but something that they can't wrap their brains around. Net result: fear. Fear of failure, destitution, and the loss of everything they have gained on the work of others. Fear.

    --
    If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
    1. Re:Fear more than greed by capt.Hij · · Score: 5, Insightful
      I have to disagree with this. This is about power. The record companies want to dictate how you use their product. They cannot get over the idea that once you purchase something it no longer belongs to them. This is why they call people "pirates" when they do what they want with their own stuff. Real pirates are thugs who forcibly board other people's property and take control over it which, by the way, is what Sony has done.

      Somebody needs to make a video of Sony DRM pirates sailing the intenet sea with Monty Python's tune of the Crimson Permanent Insurance sung in the background...

    2. Re:Fear more than greed by bsartist · · Score: 4, Informative

      They cannot get over the idea that once you purchase something it no longer belongs to them.

      Likewise, there are a lot of folks on the other side of the fence, who can't get over the idea that purchasing a CD does not give them the right to distribute copies of that CD to a million of their closest friends.

      This is why they call people "pirates" when they do what they want with their own stuff.

      Pop quiz: Who went to the Supreme Court to defend the idea that a manufacturer of a device that can be used for piracy is not liable for the actions of end users who abuse it for such activity, so long as the device has "substantial non-infringing uses"? Answer: Sony, a member of both the RIAA and MPAA. Who, in the same case, helped establish the precedent that time-shifting is legal under the "fair use" provision of US copyright law? Again, Sony did.

      The *AA's have not, to the best of my knowledge, taken any sort of action against someone who was simply time- or media-shifting "their own stuff." In fact, as shown above, at least one member of these cartels has gone to a lot of trouble to defend your right to do just that.

      They have, on the other hand, filed many lawsuits where the target of the lawsuit was allegedly distributing copies of "stuff" without having obtained a legal license to do so. That's an entirely different kettle of fish.

      I dislike the media monopoly as much as anyone - in fact, I'd read and been alarmed by Bagdikian's "Media Monopoly" book before most of the people here had even heard of the RIAA or MPAA. But let's be realistic - straw-man arguments and paranoid, ill-informed rantings are not helpful to the cause.

      --
      Lost: Sig, white with black letters. No collar. Reward if found!
    3. Re:Fear more than greed by curunir · · Score: 5, Insightful

      While I agree that this is all about power, I believe you're confusing who they're trying to exercise power over.

      This is not about preventing piracy. It never has been. Every study shows that piracy doesn't cut into the amount of money they make. Those that pirate weren't likely buyers to begin with and some end up becoming buyers because they like what they downloaded and want it in a better form. What this is about is maintaining their hold on the distribution chain. The record labels are the middle men between the consumer and the artists. As technology continues to enable and simplify a direct connection between artists and consumers, the labels become less and less necessary.

      By holding these technologies back, what they are really doing is preserving the situation where artists are forced to go through them to be able to reach consumers. They're preserving the situation where they can force onerous contracts on artists that give that result in the labels receiving the vast majority of the profits from music sales. They're preserving the cartel arrangement that allows charging ~$15 for a plastic disc that costs < $0.50 to create. Home studios are already well within the capabilities of many artists and CD manufacturing can be purchased at very reasonable prices. These were once functions that only record labels could offer. Now the only thing they have left is the distribution network. Filesharing and other technologies that allow artists to market directly to their fans will eventually obviate the last function that labels provide and make them completely unncessary.

      That's what they're fighting. That's the power they're trying to maintain.

      --
      "Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos!"
  4. What he say? by Tackhead · · Score: 5, Funny
    > The entertainment industry has put itself on the fast-track to destruction,

    ...it have no chance to survive, make its time?

    (Someone had to say it.)

  5. Good analogy by SlashAmpersand · · Score: 5, Interesting

    TFA states that during Prohibition alcohol consumption fell initially, then rose to heights never before seen. P2P sharing was huge a few years ago. I don't have any data to back this up, but it seems to me that it's taken a pretty big fall. Is there going to be a rise similar to alcohol consumption during Prohibition? On the other hand, I can hardly wait to see Homer the mp3 Baron...

  6. One major flaw in the analogy... by L0neW0lf · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The article uses Prohibition as a comparison...but Prohibition was not a product of corporate greed. It isn't like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. got together and said "Let's find a way to prohibit alcoholic beverages so that we can control what America REALLY ought to drink --our product!"

    Starting with a flawed analogy usually leads to a flawed article --as it did in this case.

    --

    Never look down your nose at others. Someday, someone is bound to see your boogers.
  7. Re:Learn to preview.. . by brufar · · Score: 5, Informative

    The RIAA - Hollywood - DRM - Linux Suicide Pact

    --
    far...out
  8. Wrong **AA? by angryflute · · Score: 4, Informative

    Shouldn't that be the MPAA, not the RIAA, which would have an issue with Linux circumventing the encryption of DVDs?

    1. Re:Wrong **AA? by squiggleslash · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Probably. But the article made no sense whatsoever anyway. It appeared to be something about Prohibition being difficult to enforce, like the DMCA. It then blathered on about banning mutually beneficial exchanges or something, and collapsed from there.

      I don't think the author's intent was to come up with anything but a bunch of buzzwords that would guarantee a front page setting on Slashdot and, thus, lots of ad-revenue generating site hits. In that respect, it's kind of surprising how few ads the article has, and how it isn't split into eleven pages. I mean, look at it: "RIAA" (Booo!) "DMCA!" (Booooooooooooo!) Linux! (YAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!) "It's like Prohibition man, Prohibition! That was also when The Man tried to keep the people down!" (WOOOOOOOOOO!)

      Why's the MPAA not in there? Because it's not as big a BUZZWORD as RIAA. We ALL know that the RIAA is evil. I mean, this is practically a satire of a P2P pirate's stream-of-consciousness. The only thing that makes me stop short of thinking that's exactly what it is is the lack of the "word" "Rediculous".

      What a load of crap. Bring back Jon Katz! At least his stuff made sense enough to disagree with.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  9. Read between the lines by A+nonymous+Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    He's talking about the DMCA being as enforceable as Prohibition. The RIAA and MPAA and Linux and DVDs certainly are involved with the DMCA.

    --
    Infuriate left and right
  10. slashdot user on fast track to hyperbole by ScentCone · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The entertainment industry has put itself on the fast-track to destruction

    Oh, please. Even the people who don't think they should have to pay for their expensively produced entertainment will have to realize that actual destruction of the entertainment industry will leave them without anyone really professional to rip off. I mean, you don't have to sleep with a copy of Atlas Shrugged to see the basic truth of it. The rubber has to meet the road someplace, and at some point the Peter Jacksons of the world will not be able to raise the cash for a Really Swell Giant Ape Movie.

    And before someone says that artistic patronage, bar gigs, miming in the streets and wearing sandals was good enough 2500 years ago, and real artists shouldn't care about financing actors and makeup artists, blahditty blah... oh, never mind. There, I've said it for you. It's not about whether or not there should be a rational way to play your DVD on your Linux laptop. There should be. The problem is the shrill tone (and glee) in comments like the original post. That does not help matters.

    --
    Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
  11. I'll drink to that by digitaldc · · Score: 4, Informative

    Some history about the Linux flap:
    http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/DeCSS/Gallery/archive/g arfinkel.txt

    Some other page I found by accident about file sharing:
    http://www.eff.org/IP/P2P/howto-notgetsued.php

    --
    He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
  12. New DVDs that block use in computers by acherrington · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I was at blockbuster the other day and rented the Longest Yard, then took it home. Much to my suprise, the DVD blocked the watching of the movie on my computer. I took the DVD to blockbuster, and told them that I was cancelling my blockbuster pass because I was unable to watch movies on my computer (I have no normal TV as everything is ran through the computer using beyond TV). I figured that should put the most pressure on the MPAA. If blockbuster lobbies against MPAA because their revenue basis is dried up, it should make a good battle where only consumers win... i hope.

    --


    Victory is gained, not in knowing your opponents next move, but in preempting them.
  13. Hmm...what was this about? by Mr.Spaz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    TFA seems a little disjointed and difficult to follow. Reads more like rambling than any sort of informative article or persuasive opinion piece.

  14. It was said well enough long ago by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 4, Funny
    Those who refuse to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.

    I just wish they'd hurry up and die from their mistakes so something better can come along.

    --
    "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
  15. DMCA vs. Prohabition passage by Cr0w+T.+Trollbot · · Score: 5, Interesting
    our brilliant government passed the Eighteenth Amendment commonly referred to as Prohibition.

    It is misleading to say "our brilliant government" passed Prohabition. It would be more accurate to say "our brilliant GOVERNMENTS" passed Prohibition, as it required a 2/3rds majority of votes in both the House and Senate, as well as being ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states. Grave mistake though it was, Prohabition was still an issue whose passage was sufficiently popular to overcome the step hurdles against amending the constitution.

    The DMCA, by contrast, has shown no such popular support, and did not go through nearly as rigerous a process or well-debated to be enacted into law. That's a rather fundamental difference, and one that renders his anaology to inexact to be meaningful, if not his overriding point.

    Crow T. Trollbot

  16. I'll yell you who... by rbochan · · Score: 4, Informative

    Submitter, aka PlayfullyClever trying to use the /. crowd's love for linux+entertainment to bump up his google page rank on the site he just registered yesterday?
    Why else would TFA have nothing to do with the submission?
    Bealtes-Beatles in disguise, with diamonds?

    FYI
    Domain Name: PLAYFULLYCLEVER.COM
    Registrar: TUCOWS INC.
    Updated Date: 30-nov-2005
    Creation Date: 30-nov-2005
    Expiration Date: 30-nov-2006

    --
    ...Rob
    The American Dream isn't an SUV and a house in the suburbs; it's Don't Tread On Me.
  17. Re:Not RIAA / Linux / DVD by Liam+Slider · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Corporations want ownership of materials; Private individuals want free access those materials. Therein lies the battle.
    No, the private individuals want access to property they've already paid for. Corporations want control of property that isn't theirs without consent, and expects the owners to pay them for them to take control. Somewhat different battle here.
  18. Re:RIAA sanctioned linux playback by cayenne8 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    "...if the lack of a player were really the reason Linux users have to rip a DVD..."

    I think you have 2 issues confused here. In Linux, you do NOT have to rip the dvd to watch it. However, before the DVD encryption scheme was cracked...you could not use your computer's dvd player to watch your perfectly legally purchased dvds. DVD Jon broke the encryption scheme...and now, dvd players on Linux boxes can do the exact same thing that someone using OSX or Win. can do with their purchased media.

    The ease in ripping the dvd's was just a side effect from having the encryption broken. But, you can rip a DVD on any OS...not just Linux.

    --
    Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
  19. Re:Open Source Beer by sd_diamond · · Score: 5, Funny

    THIS RECIPE LICENSED UNDER THE GPL.

    Great. Now I won't be able to drink it while using MS Word.