...is that the companies 'owning' these materials are not content simply controlling the distribution of data, but its presentation as well. For example, forbidding users to fast-forward through commercials or view the data in an arbitrary way of the users' choosing. With our 'old media' such as books, you can skip chapters, read in any order, with glasses, text-to-speech, or even on a computerized magnifying display or projection system if you want or need to. The current trend intends to lock a user out of legally-licensed materials unless displayed in an 'approved' manner on an 'approved' device. Imagine buying a CD player and finding out it performs a check on your stereo system, refusing to play if it detects a competitor's speakers!
Slashdot Mirror
...is that the companies 'owning' these materials are not content simply controlling the distribution of data, but its presentation as well. For example, forbidding users to fast-forward through commercials or view the data in an arbitrary way of the users' choosing. With our 'old media' such as books, you can skip chapters, read in any order, with glasses, text-to-speech, or even on a computerized magnifying display or projection system if you want or need to. The current trend intends to lock a user out of legally-licensed materials unless displayed in an 'approved' manner on an 'approved' device. Imagine buying a CD player and finding out it performs a check on your stereo system, refusing to play if it detects a competitor's speakers!