Slashdot Mirror
Libraries Say DRM May Harm Their Services
Ernest Adams writes "The BBC is reporting that the British Library is concerned about DRM's effect on its ability to make materials available to the public. Libraries have a legal right to distribute materials under the Fair Use provisions of the copyright law, but DRM systems may block this. Furthermore, they point out that DRM systems don't automatically switch themselves off when a work goes out of copyright. DRM systems may allow copyright holders to retain control over their material longer than they are legally entitled to. Worse yet, if the software no longer exists to unlock a DRM-protected file, its contents may be lost forever -- exactly the thing libraries are intended to prevent." We've discussed stories like this before.
Yeah, but what about the artist? I mean, don't they have the absolute right to deny anything freak'in thing they've ever written, uttered or excreted from public use until every last penny has been wrung from it? I mean, com'on. We're not about knowledge or sharing. We're about money. More is better. To hell with bettering ourselves or others. Let's just get rich and crap on the rest of the world. Yeah, that's the ticket.....