Gamers, EFF Speak Out Against DRM

Last month, we discussed news that the FTC would be examining DRM to see if it needs regulation. They set up a town hall meeting for late March, and part of that effort involved requesting comments from potential panelists and the general public. Ars Technica reports that responses to the request have been overwhelmingly against DRM, and primarily from gamers. The Electronic Frontier Foundation also took the opportunity to speak out strongly against DRM, saying flat out that "DRM does not prevent piracy," and suggesting that its intended purpose is "giving some industry leaders unprecedented power to influence the pace and nature of innovation and upsetting the traditional balance between the interests of copyright owners and the interests of the public." Their full public comments (PDF) describe several past legal situations supporting that point, such as Sony's fight against mod chips, Blizzard's DMCA lawsuit against an alternative to battle.net, and Sony's XCP rootkit.

Comments

DRM is a necessary evil

[Anonymous Coward]

Even though people hate it, companies which spend billions of dollars to generate new IP need to protect their assets, the same way a physical store uses anti-shoplifting tags.

The economy is a mess, and piracy is commonplace. This is why countries are hammering out treaties like ACTA.

I have yet to see DRM that interferes with legit users. The biggest complainers are pirates.