But the problem with this is that DRM - or what Mr. Chiariglione reminds us is protection, not management - restricts the user's freedom to do what they want with the media they purchase. It doesn't seem to me like this is balance, but instead intrusion on rights that people had previously. These are new restrictions, imposed on us for no reason other than the technology exists to do so.
My question to you would be, who handles this key embedding? Some centralized authority? Media distributors? How many players can I get keys for? I've got an xbox, four computers, two portable players and a smartphone. Is that too many? When will I have to pay for more licenses? If my Internet connection goes down, and I'm trying to move a piece of media from my computer to my portable media player, can I do that, or will it reject this move based on the fact that it cannot authenticate the new device and generate an appropriate key for it? What if I go to a hostile environment in which Internet access is a rarity? And then my computer dies, and I have to move my media from one system to another - will it play? How about open-source operating systems? So far, the media companies have simply rejected open-source OSs out of hand because the market isn't substantial enough, but if you really, truly want to play media everywhere you're going to have to let us Linux geeks play it too.
And what happens in ten or twenty years when the authentication servers for this media are shut down in favor of a new type of media? The media I licensed legally - without any sort of time constraint - is now useless. In other words, the content industry bricked my media in favor of an alternative format, which I conveniently have to purchase again. Repeat, ad infinitum.
A far better example of DRM in real life is Windows XP product activation and/or Windows Genuine Advantage. As a tech support minion, I spend far too much of my time hassling with these things, because they break often, even though most people consider them to be "unintrusive." Microsoft is almost no help whatsoever in these circumstances, since their answer is often "reinstall." Why should I ask my clients to tear up their systems because this crappy DRM system fails to work? It's pure insanity, but we've basically accepted it as the norm because Microsoft owns the enterprise space.
DRM makes everyone's life harder, and all current forms of DRMed media distribution are stunningly expensive. Ten bucks for an album from iTunes isn't much of a price break from just going to Best Buy and buying it on sale. Wal-Mart's new movie store is shockingly expensive. The thing that really pisses me off is that no major media company has even bothered to try the alternative: distributing media in open formats at reasonable prices, and providing a fast link on which to download them. Frankly, if I could buy a DVD on Amazon for ten bucks, or download it as an h.264-encoded MKV, I'd download it. Moreso if it only cost $7.50.
To summarize:
I shouldn't have to give up my rights to use media anywhere I want to ensure the author's right to get paid.
I shouldn't have to give up my right to control how long I use my media to ensure the author's right to get paid.
No DRM (protection) scheme currently exists in which the user can be assured that their rights to use media as they wish, for as long as they wish, will ever be violated.
It is likely that no DRM (protection) scheme that does these things can ever exist.
It is highly unlikely that every person who has downloaded media illegally would purchase it even if they were so restricted, therefore increased DRM does not directly relate to increased profit.
No large media organizations have ever tried distributing unprotected media at low cost, so no fair comparisons between DRMed media and non-DRMed media can be made.
Moreover, if I copy something you made, that neither deprives you of your original content nor your life, so making comparisons to direct theft or even murder is ludicrous.
If you want to play a DVD, get a DVD player. That's what they are for.
Right. Because I need another big box (TV) and a DVD player in my dorm room. And the 'surround sound' speakers you drone on about are connected to my PC, so I'd have to reconnect and reposition them every time I want to watch a DVD.
Or I could just watch it on my PC. My PC is my Swiss Army knife for entertainment, dammit, not by choice, but by necessity. I'm poor and cramped for space.
Hey, sit and lecture about why computers shouldn't be about something for nothing all you want. It's easy to do when you have a big home and a well-paying job and you can afford the nice plasma screen and expensive surround gear. The rest of us live in the real world where we have to squeeze every bit of value out of our things that we can.
However, these were not bugs; it was information about how our products work.
Y'know, Microsoft said the same shit about Outlook Express and its virus-spreading abilities for quite some time before actually settling down and trying to fix the problem.
The honest to God truth is, this guy may be Evil Incarnate, but he's brought up some genuine security issues. They don't have to like the guy, nor do they have to condone what he does or what he has done. However, they do need to fix the security problems (which they seem to be simply ignoring at present.)
Slashdot Mirror
But the problem with this is that DRM - or what Mr. Chiariglione reminds us is protection, not management - restricts the user's freedom to do what they want with the media they purchase. It doesn't seem to me like this is balance, but instead intrusion on rights that people had previously. These are new restrictions, imposed on us for no reason other than the technology exists to do so.
My question to you would be, who handles this key embedding? Some centralized authority? Media distributors? How many players can I get keys for? I've got an xbox, four computers, two portable players and a smartphone. Is that too many? When will I have to pay for more licenses? If my Internet connection goes down, and I'm trying to move a piece of media from my computer to my portable media player, can I do that, or will it reject this move based on the fact that it cannot authenticate the new device and generate an appropriate key for it? What if I go to a hostile environment in which Internet access is a rarity? And then my computer dies, and I have to move my media from one system to another - will it play? How about open-source operating systems? So far, the media companies have simply rejected open-source OSs out of hand because the market isn't substantial enough, but if you really, truly want to play media everywhere you're going to have to let us Linux geeks play it too.
And what happens in ten or twenty years when the authentication servers for this media are shut down in favor of a new type of media? The media I licensed legally - without any sort of time constraint - is now useless. In other words, the content industry bricked my media in favor of an alternative format, which I conveniently have to purchase again. Repeat, ad infinitum.
A far better example of DRM in real life is Windows XP product activation and/or Windows Genuine Advantage. As a tech support minion, I spend far too much of my time hassling with these things, because they break often, even though most people consider them to be "unintrusive." Microsoft is almost no help whatsoever in these circumstances, since their answer is often "reinstall." Why should I ask my clients to tear up their systems because this crappy DRM system fails to work? It's pure insanity, but we've basically accepted it as the norm because Microsoft owns the enterprise space.
DRM makes everyone's life harder, and all current forms of DRMed media distribution are stunningly expensive. Ten bucks for an album from iTunes isn't much of a price break from just going to Best Buy and buying it on sale. Wal-Mart's new movie store is shockingly expensive. The thing that really pisses me off is that no major media company has even bothered to try the alternative : distributing media in open formats at reasonable prices, and providing a fast link on which to download them. Frankly, if I could buy a DVD on Amazon for ten bucks, or download it as an h.264-encoded MKV, I'd download it. Moreso if it only cost $7.50.
To summarize:
Moreover, if I copy something you made, that neither deprives you of your original content nor your life, so making comparisons to direct theft or even murder is ludicrous.
If you want to play a DVD, get a DVD player. That's what they are for.
Right. Because I need another big box (TV) and a DVD player in my dorm room. And the 'surround sound' speakers you drone on about are connected to my PC, so I'd have to reconnect and reposition them every time I want to watch a DVD.
Or I could just watch it on my PC. My PC is my Swiss Army knife for entertainment, dammit, not by choice, but by necessity. I'm poor and cramped for space.
Hey, sit and lecture about why computers shouldn't be about something for nothing all you want. It's easy to do when you have a big home and a well-paying job and you can afford the nice plasma screen and expensive surround gear. The rest of us live in the real world where we have to squeeze every bit of value out of our things that we can.
An enormous range of free webmail providers.
Free webmail providers, by and large, blow complete donkey sack and you know it. This is a cop-out.
An enormous range of people that will smarthost for you at little or no cost.
Name five.
However, these were not bugs; it was information about how our products work.
Y'know, Microsoft said the same shit about Outlook Express and its virus-spreading abilities for quite some time before actually settling down and trying to fix the problem.
The honest to God truth is, this guy may be Evil Incarnate, but he's brought up some genuine security issues. They don't have to like the guy, nor do they have to condone what he does or what he has done. However, they do need to fix the security problems (which they seem to be simply ignoring at present.)
I mean, come on! Dot Matrix, Mouse, and who can forget AndrAIa in Season 3 & 4? If AndrAIa isn't in this contest, then it isn't worth anything.
4) EULA language is relatively advanced lawyerese -- again, it's beyond the comprehension of most, so they just assume they aren't getting screwed.
Maybe we should start by teaching people that when they see relatively advanced lawyerese, they're most likely getting screwed.