Slashdot Mirror
DRM Causes Piracy
igorsk recommends an essay by Eric Flint, editor at Baen Publishing and an author himself, over at Baen's online SF magazine, Baen Universe. In it Flint argues that, far from curbing piracy of copyrighted materials, DRM actually causes it. Quoting: "Electronic copyright infringement is something that can only become an 'economic epidemic' under certain conditions. Any one of the following: 1) The products they want... are hard to find, and thus valuable. 2) The products they want are high-priced, so there's a fair amount of money to be saved by stealing them. 3) The legal products come with so many added-on nuisances that the illegal version is better to begin with. Those are the three conditions that will create widespread electronic copyright infringement, especially in combination. Why? Because they're the same three general conditions that create all large-scale smuggling enterprises. And... Guess what? It's precisely those three conditions that DRM creates in the first place. So far from being an impediment to so-called 'online piracy,' it's DRM itself that keeps fueling it and driving it forward."
I have to strongly disagree with the premise of this article. DRM doesn't cause piracy; people do. I can't in good conscious begin to pretend that humans are mindless drones reacting to circumstances who have no personal responsibility in what they do. Blaming technology for people's actions is a road you don't want to take, or else someone could just as easily argue that the Internet "causes" child pornography or video games cause violence. Slashdotters often defend technologies against those in the press who blame it for the actions of a criminal few, but that goes both ways, and just because you don't like DRM for whatever reasons doesn't mean you should begin to blame it for piracy in some disingenuous attempt to turn the tables on the RIAA (please stop with the "MAFIAA" nonsense). To do so means you adopt positions when they suit your agenda. People are the ones who pirate, not DRM schemes--end of story.
"Sufferin' succotash."
What's this politically correct bullshit about tolerating others' traditions at all cost? Fine, then let's not annoy those africans who want to mutilate their daughters either. What about the Skoptzy, the russian castration cult... and the Thuggee, the indian murdering thieves cult... poor misunderstood folks, huh?
If you're that offended, it's simply because you fail to fathom the evil that this "tradition" does. Many jews already do, and some are very vocal supporters of the anti-circumcision movement. Look into it if you don't believe me.
Circumcision is child abuse.