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EFF Gets Animated About DRM with The Corruptibles
Lurker McLurker writes "An animation from the EFF shows DRM technology as a group of supervillans who aim to invade your home, interfere with your devices and stop you from using your digital media the way you want to, even if it is legitimate. Doesn't say anything about the subject most of us wouldn't know, but a great link to send to your friends as an introduction to the issue."
THATS AWESOME! Now i can show little kids why theyre screwed in the future.
I think I personally would have visualized the character of "Analog Hole" as a lot older... certainly not a kid.
I think this is a nice piece of work from the EFF. There are plenty of people who would be more concerned about DRM if they understood its potentials. I know I've talked with my father (who is very low tech) about DRM, and he certainly was legitimately concerned about what I told him. I've made backups of some of his CDs for him, and he likes knowing that he can keep the originals safe. We talked about how breaking DeCSS to make a legitimate backup copy of a DVD is illegal under the DMCA, and he thinks something like that is unreasonable. Right now, non-tech people just aren't running into deep issues of DRM. The most DRM they've probably run into is iTMS FairPlay, and thanks to Apple's 'generous' terms, they rarely, if ever, run into something they can't do. I think more people would be concerned about DRM if they understood what it's potential consequences are, and I think this animation does a good job of doing that.
Wasn't a free market and capitalism supposed to drive innovation and technology? Oh wait, yeah, Microsoft, never mind.
Really, reading some of these proposed laws the clear message from the RIAA/MPAA is, "To ensure our continued hand-in-the-cookie-jar obscene money making machine, we demand the government enact protective legislation." Guess what? They're "gettin' 'er done"! Innovative ideas and extensions and forks of cool, useful, for-the-betterment-of-man technology fall by the wayside by fiat, at the entertainment industry's prompt.
Again, ignoring the thesis for the moment that increased use of all of these digital technologies actually serve the entertainment industry spurring new growth in unexpected demographics, the new and improved technology traditionally has been the keystone of other new technologies. Often, as mentioned in a recent slashdot article, new directions are discovered accidentally. Squelch digital devices and you squelch potential new and rich fields of devices.
The RIAA and MPAA, what a bunch of fucktards.
That is excellent and I hope it gets widespread exposure.
Now what I would really like to see is it broadcast on the major tv channels. Let me know if hell is freezing over.
I think this is a good idea, but I really wish more people would put subtitles on their flash videos, the EFF no exception.
Seriously, how hard would it be to spend some 10 minutes adding subtitles?
I do like the idea, though.
The bad guys can make cartoons too.
if the only people who see this are already in agreement with the EFF on this one?
What would be REALLY cool is if it can be shown on the major TV channels (during commercial breaks) every once in a while... How much money would be needed for that?
My other account has a 3-digit UID.
Just before the warning about how piracy is putting the movie industry out of work.
I have shown this clip to a few colleagues, and they just dont understand how these things effect them.
Talking about HDTV, mixing down from Digital Radio, and Digitizing commercial products for school projects is not the way to appeal to the mass consumer market.
Recording TV shows and making a favorites CD out of your music collection are more accessble principles to the mass market, and these are what should be highlighted.
DRM is not evil. DRM is not wrong. Improper application and bad laws are.
Fight the laws and bad applications of DRM, not DRM itself.
It didn't look like something that'll engage the attention of anyone that matters. By that, I mean that it isn't a particularly well-done, entertaining cartoon sequence that also raises questions or drives a call to action. It's boring, the characters are uninteresting, the "story" is only the message. No wordplay, no good characterisation, no hook. The items that are destroyed are so generic and undetailed that they carry no identity, conveying no sense of loss when destroyed. I don't come away from it feeling that anything personal and valuable is under threat. So it remains a little cartoon sequence, easily forgotten. It certainly won't lead anyone not already fired up to go learn more, write a congresscritter, etc.
Outside of the geek universe, this is worthless. It's the difference between the MPAA, RIAA & other lobbies and the "good guys". The bad guys know their marketing - they successfully sell their policies to those who can mandate them. The good guys are really ineffective at selling resistance to anyone that could be heard - including "the masses".
Perhaps this would have gotten some attention if it was done as high-def, burned to Blu-Ray, and handed out at the locations where the Samsung player is launching this weekend?
MS to be fair seem to have made reasonable efforts to unify DRM with it's 'plays for sure' thingy (although I've no experience on how restrictive it actually is)
And if I have a Mac or Linux box?
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
Now see, I had mod points today, and unfortunately there isn't a mod "wrong", otherwise I'd have used it right away.
DRM IS WRONG. In any form ever for anything. It stifles the advance of human progress, be it technologically, in the arts, or even politically. Advocating DRM ever for anything is like advocating AIDS ever for anything. Sure occasionally some real fucktard like Dick Cheney might get AIDS and that would be great. However, AIDS itself still sucks, and I'd advocate taking him out another way.
Specifically in this case prison time for purjury and election rigging until his pace maker gives out. Over all AIDS is still bad. Just like DRM.
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.
...combine with similar movies about software patents and trusted computing.
Swedish plasma phys. PhD student; MSc EE; knows maths, programming, electronics; finance interest; seeks opportunities
The real problem is that it is almost impossible to constrain piracy while not infringing on fair use. These same types of things were brought up with the advent of VCRs and there has been no companies that have gone bankrupt (to my knowledge) because of VCRs. In my opinion, DRM is not necessary, and companies could make even more profit without it if they gave the consumers more options to get what they want, how they want it. Take a tip from Burger King, "Your way, right away."
Help make The Corruptibles a big story on Digg as well.
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
DRM to constrain piracy = Good
Well DRM does not constrain piracy. It only hurts the
Zip. Nadda. Not one bit.
If a pirate wants to copy something or get a copy of something, he already has the tools to bypass whatever DRM you throw at him. Those who end up being hurt all the time is Joe Six packs who buy a copy and then the company that sold him the media goes bankrupt or his drm copy goes bad and he couldn't make fair use backups of it.
The "truth" about DRM is to make people buy media twice when they already own a licence for it.
And guess what happens to DRM when the copyright expires in 100 years from now? You still have DRM and may heaven help you if you are a historian trying to research early 21st century history and can't seem to find tools to read archaic DRM schemes (although I'll give our descendants the benefit of the doubt with computer skills by 2100.)
Not to mention this media is supposed to go into public domain once the DRM expires... But DRM is cheating the spirit of copyright law by making this impossible.
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
Its not really too abstract, as it reflects how these DRM people see themselves.... somehow fighting villainy in all its forms, but not realising that they themselves are corrupt due to the legal violence they commit against others.
Given their druthers, these people would have your brain or body micro-chipped, and if you believe otherwise, many here would think you are not playing with the full deck.
Decent copyright, and decent IP is understandable and even desirable, but when these SOB's enter every part of every transaction and sanction what I can, or cannot see, and monitor my every trivial activity - I keep hearing the soft bell of a Certain Story.... 1984... O'Brien: "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face -- for ever."
Its a disturbing read, and for who're BRAVE enough to download (free from Australia) it, you may see the very similarities in the book and what DRM is.... the ability to "re-write history" the ability to make un-people or un-events (revoke DRM to your demographic/country/voting area).....
This is not a political issue, but a human freedom. Its a form of pseudo fascism, as in 1984... the owners of the content will be The Ministry Of Truth.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four
Just bought a new quantum computer, but I'm uncertain how it works.
I tend to agree. Simplified, hyperbolic, and in the end, unengaging. I think the talk Cory Doctrow gave to the Microsoft Research Group about DRM is a much better way to introduce friends and relatives to the issues at hand. Of course, it requires a slightly longer attention span than what's required from the animation linked to in TFA, but I find that I often underestimate my non-tech friends ability to absorb information. Especially when it comes to issues that very much concerns them. Excerpt:
And he does just that..
One of a Kind <-- You probably won't be interested..
Second link under the "Watch" title is an XVid MPEG4 file, XVid being an open source video codec.
I am NaN
As much as I love the EFF and everything they do (I donate every month), I don't like the movie on its purely presentational qualities.
1. It presents too many things too fast. Everything happends too fast. I showed it to someone unfamiliar with the issue, and who had only vaguely heard some of the terms used (analog hole, fair use, and the like). Her reaction was in the lines of "Huh? What the...? Can you play that again?"
2. It uses a foolishly cartoonish "superhero" style. When I see those overly comic-style "superhero" images with sharp lines, simple colors, and dumb logos on their chests, I find them stupid. They look stupid. This gives the whole video a comic feel, taking away any seriousness it might have wanted to imply. It fails to shock the unsuspecting viewer with what should be a shocking revelation. Don't get me wrong; the problem is not any crude drawing, but the adherence to the "comic superhero" style. Even the voice-over sticks to it...
3. It doesn't explain anything. What's going on? This is the most difficult one to get right, but a video has to at least try to explain part of the issue. You could say it only tries to turn your attention to the issue, but it doesn't... the video, as it is, requires one to do some serious background reading. How many people, who have never bothered with the issue before, are going to just stop what they were doing and start reading about DRM?
Number 2 is the biggest flaw in my opinion. Most people would oppose DRM if they knew about it, but if I send the link to anyone who's even a little sceptic about the importance of opposing DRM and the magnitude of its danger, that person would laugh at me. One already did, saying "What the hell is this bullshit?". The question was about the cartoonish guys, not the issue presented. I love the idea though, and hope they will come up with something better next time.
I don't agree that the bad guys are so good and the good guys suck as you seem to characterize. Your are overreacting.
The cartoon was uninspired and not worth forwarding to anyone I know, I agree.
How do you let someone know that there is a new law that will let someone walk in your front door and change your television channel? its very hard to convince anyone of that because its so preposterous. People will think you are just exaggerating. The cartoon does not seem to understand that.
......The fact is, not all DRM is bad,......
In fact DRM is wonderful, great and there should be more of it. What is bad is that the makers of DRM, with the DMCA, have gotten the law on their side in cat and mouse game of breaking all DRM. Let Sony and whoever wants to come up with the most draconian DRM they can pay someone to invent, but then allow someone even more clever come up with and legally distribute tools to break the encryptions.
All content creators have to realize that the easier it has become to copy their work, the more money they have made in the long run. Starting with the piano rolls, which were really early digital copies, through the VCRs, easier copying has always meant more money for artists and all their hangers on. Binary bits are inherently copyable. Does anyone really believe that Apple would sell fewer iPods and there would be fewer music downloads from iTunes if Apple simply dropped the DRM?
Trying to prevent, by law, digital copying, is like trying to prevent the tide from coming in. Up until now, content makers have always figured out how to use the new, better copying technology available to the public to make more money than ever. I predict that in 20 to 30 years, DRM will be regarded in the same way as we today regard prohibition laws enacted in the early 1900s. These laws back then even rose to the level of a CONSTITUTIONAL amendment, not just a plain dumb law, such as the DMCA.
All theory is gray
If anti-piracy groups released a video portraying pirates as supervillians who invade your home and take your money and never give it back, we'd all be making fun of it.
And in turn, it's the anti-piracy groups' good right to be making fun of this. I don't see the problem. Besides, don't tell me you've forgotten all those anti-piracy educational messages and videos depicting copyright infringers as the worst scum of the earth, or the ones suggesting what happens to your analog hole in prison once their lawyers get to you?
customers simply won't buy it and will choose a different product
That's assuming:
- Joe Average Customer is actually aware of the effects DRM will have on his ability to do things he now takes for granted.
- There will in fact be other products to choose from. Since the entertainment industry is lobbying hard to make DRM mandatory, I wouldn't count on it.
And since DRM is tightly coupled to all the great new stuff like digital radio, HDTV, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, next-gen OS'es etc... one can't avoid buying DRM if he wants to keep up with the latest tech. Of course, one could keep on using his current stuff, but that's assuming his current stuff will keep working once the new tech rolls out. And guess what? Once the new tech is in place, the old tech will be outphased, so that in say 5 years your current TV set won't be able to pick up anything anymore because everything is either digital or HD. And then of course, there's the issue of every piece of electronics wearing out and breaking down after a while.Rights aren't being violated
Except our fair-use rights. Or don't you agree that those are in fact rights?
it's just another product on the market place to reject or accept
The three "evils" depicted in the cartoon are:
- The audio flag
- The broadcast flag
- Lawfully plugging the analog hole
The entertainment industry is lobbying to get all three of those mandatory by law, thus eliminating any kind of competing technology. They do not plan to introduce "just another product on the market place to reject or accept"; they're aiming at making this product the only product available on the market place (at least legally). There is no "reject or accept", there will only be "obey and consume".Now, tell me again how this, in your point of view, is not a bad thing?
I agree though; the cartoon sucks, like most "edutainment" pieces. The script is so lame and hyperbolic that it fails to captivate anyone's interest.
Install windows on my workstation? You crazy? Got any idea how much I paid for the damn thing?
It's more like buying a product that stops working when you use it in an unapproved manner. Like a screwdriver that you can't pry open a can of paint with, a hammer that pounds nails but not chisels, a mattress you can't take the tags off of, or scissors that cut cloth but not paper. Not because of technical limitations, but because the manufacturers think it might possibly hurt their business.