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DRM Causes Piracy

Posted by kdawson on from the obvious-when-you-think-about-it dept.

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."

5 of 413 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Commodification by ScrewMaster · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Given enough females, I'm sure I could do better than 150 in the course of a year. I might need to take some vacation time when that year is up, however.

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    The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
  2. Re:Commodification by Broken+scope · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Of course he gets modded down. I mean isn't calling someone a Jew a great insult in suburban America? its not anti semitic, its just denoting how they handle money, or how they strive to gain money.

    Yes, I was being sarcastic, before someone reads that wrong.

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    You mad
  3. Re:Commodification by Stormwatch · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I have a lovely wife and two beautiful girls who are Jewish.
    If you ever have a boy... well, click the link in my sig, read, and ponder.
    --
    Circumcision is child abuse.
  4. Re:Commodification by pudro · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Are you anti-semitic? Not only do show no respect for Jewish beliefs, but you want his son to get HIV?

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    Freedom is assumed. Then they try to take it away. The degree to which you resist is the degree to which you are free.
  5. Re:Commodification by Stormwatch · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I don't respect anyone's beliefs, if "respect" means "not opposing a blatant violation of human rights".

    About HIV, there's thing called "condom", haven't you heard of it?

    --
    Circumcision is child abuse.