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Fight DRM While There's Still Time

Posted by kdawson on from the call-to-action dept.

ageor writes "It seems (not only) to me that DRM is about far more than intellectual property. It's also about monopoly and freedom of choice. It's one of those cases where we, the consumers, must decide against accepting the new industry's rules, which care only about control and making money. The whole matter is very well put in DRM, Vista and your rights, where you can follow the subject as deeply as you like through the numerous relevant links."

4 of 424 comments (clear)

  1. it can't be fought by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    DRM can't be fought, sorry.

    There aren't enough people who know or care. Only a few of us geeks, and we don't make up an appreciable fraction of the market.

    People will buy what the ads tell them to buy. End of story. We lose. Want to play the downloaded movie you just ordered from Netflix on Linux? Sorry, no dice.

    I don't like it either, but it's reality.

  2. United Front by mathemaniac · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The general population has very little idea about what DRM is or means. Here's an example: The DVD/VCR combo. Albeit anecdotal, several of my acquaintances have bought these products with the naive intention of renting a dvd and recording it to VHS tape, and needless to say, been very disappointed. Or the DVD-burner console, with the same type of intentions. None of them had any idea about copy protection, and certainly their intentions were less than honorable.

    But the point is that not being tech savvy, they are clueless as to what the superficial applications of DRM are, let alone the deeper implications. Until more of the general population is made aware of what is at stake, DRM will continue unabated because people buy it. Fortunately, there have been signs that the main stream media are noticing the implications of DRM as evidenced by recent articles in the New York Times.

  3. How about a chain letter from us to everyone? by callmetheraven · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Probably every single person on Slashdot has received all the "boilerplate" emails that circulate the web eternally it seems. The rocket-powered-impala, the no-headlights-gangsters, the endless new-virus-gonna-format-your-HD warning mails forwarded again and again Aunty Marcia, etc ad nauseum.

    But what if WE did the same thing? What if the most articulate amongst us came up with a DRM warning letter, and we forwarded it to all the Joe Sixpacs of our worlds with the a title like "WARNING: DRM THREATENING YOUR PC" and "FORWARD THIS TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS!!" message?

    Maybe I'm just idealistically dreaming, maybe I'm being a little rtarded, but how else will Joe Sixpack ever find out otherwise? Broadcast media? Nope. Blogs? Not the ones he's reading. And you know Joe HAS read about the rocket impala.

    --
    You can have my SIG when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.
  4. Re:This isn't about freedom by bmo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    From earlier in the month, from Usenet, a post from Me. This is what DRM does.

    *begin paste*

    Alt.Rhode_Island buys music. REPOST

    So I'm an Elvis Costello fan. I bought "The River In Reverse" and "The Delivery Man"

    The CD for "River in Reverse" wasn't copy protected, but the DVD would only play in my wicked small low-fi portable DVD player that has 1 inch speakers. It craps out after about 5 minutes in anything else. I watched the whole thing. It wasn' worth the effort. They're doing copy protection for THAT?

    The first CD in "Delivery Man" is copy protected and will only play in the low-fi DVD player.

    I heard mutterings of the CEO of UMG saying that ipods are repositories of stolen music. I didn't figure that he'd be stupid enough to follow through. And good luck figuring this out on your own, as these disks are not labeled as such plainly. The "Delivery Man" cd is labeled as "enhanced cd" on a tiny logo on the back of the package instead of the standard Compact Disc label. In other words, they get around not selling a Compact Disc by not calling it a Compact Disc as defined by the Phillips standard (which gets the manufacturer the Compact Disc label).

    I went to the UMG site that describes the copy protection. Apparently if you have a Macintosh you're screwed. They're "working on it" because they say that the only software they have to let you play the cd works only for Windows PCs and it's spotty on that depending on the age and model of your optical drive.

    Fine.

    I have been hosed for being an honest guy.

    I'm not a thief. I will never pay another cent to UMG. This is insane.

    You have been warned.

    --
    BMO