I have been studying and researching the relationship between DRM and computing and freedom for a while now:
i wish the scope of this issue extended no further than just boycotting and user/consumer choice. DRM is being used to "conquer" a lot more than just the digital world. Indeed, that is the effect on one level, but the means by which this will be achieved is visible already.
Previously, we have experienced a social framework in which the limitations on individual behaviour have been broadly and via a variety of mechanisms been agreed at a social/consensual level. The arrival of a time in which the owner of an object or device is no longer able to decide how it is to be used within certain boundaries established at a social/consensual forum (such as a representatively democratic institution) indicates that we are already shifting from a NOT-FOR culture or social framework to a FOR-ONLY code of living in which devices and objects (and how we may behave with them) may only be used for purposes permitted by their vendors/manufacturers.
When u consider that devices such as tvs,computers, radio are the means by which information can spontaneously (freely) be learned and disseminated, control of those devices through the TCPA and DMCA and other physical (hardware), virtual (software) and legal means can only result in the steadily increasing control of information and the means by which it can be known. Information and knowledge (of ourselves and others) are the means by which we can provide ourselves with the oppportunities to be free and preserve that freedom from unaccountable vested interests, whether they are commercial or belonging to the political elite (wherever it is possible to still make that kind of simplistic distinction).
So yes, peer maintained information networks: this may be the future for those of us who refuse to sacrifice our rights and also our responsibilities to future generations.
But first, we must see what is going on around us. And what is going on amounts to a lot more than mp3s, DeCSS and Hollywood.
And the potential for the issue of digital rights to twisted and manipulated by state entities is obvious with the emergence of the Total Information Awareness office/team.
Slashdot Mirror
I have been studying and researching the relationship between DRM and computing and freedom for a while now: i wish the scope of this issue extended no further than just boycotting and user/consumer choice. DRM is being used to "conquer" a lot more than just the digital world. Indeed, that is the effect on one level, but the means by which this will be achieved is visible already. Previously, we have experienced a social framework in which the limitations on individual behaviour have been broadly and via a variety of mechanisms been agreed at a social/consensual level. The arrival of a time in which the owner of an object or device is no longer able to decide how it is to be used within certain boundaries established at a social/consensual forum (such as a representatively democratic institution) indicates that we are already shifting from a NOT-FOR culture or social framework to a FOR-ONLY code of living in which devices and objects (and how we may behave with them) may only be used for purposes permitted by their vendors/manufacturers. When u consider that devices such as tvs,computers, radio are the means by which information can spontaneously (freely) be learned and disseminated, control of those devices through the TCPA and DMCA and other physical (hardware), virtual (software) and legal means can only result in the steadily increasing control of information and the means by which it can be known. Information and knowledge (of ourselves and others) are the means by which we can provide ourselves with the oppportunities to be free and preserve that freedom from unaccountable vested interests, whether they are commercial or belonging to the political elite (wherever it is possible to still make that kind of simplistic distinction). So yes, peer maintained information networks: this may be the future for those of us who refuse to sacrifice our rights and also our responsibilities to future generations. But first, we must see what is going on around us. And what is going on amounts to a lot more than mp3s, DeCSS and Hollywood. And the potential for the issue of digital rights to twisted and manipulated by state entities is obvious with the emergence of the Total Information Awareness office/team.