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How exactly does preventing someone from backing up their own data [DVDs/CDs/Flash Memory] ‘give us more options’…..as is suggested in this article. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/12753567.htm
[remind me to buy a large MB sandisk card and reader before they mass execute this nonsense Lipan!]

We should all be suffering from a deeply negative feeling as it relates to this whole digital rights management [DRM] mess, particularly because so much money and infinite resources are going into developing technology that no one who is actually purchasing that technology actually wants. The chip designer firm is working with the chip manufacturer who is negotiating with the global entertainment corporation who is linking with the agent who interfaces with the artist who toots up with the liaison of the technology company……it’s madness!

So who’s missing here? How about the people who are actually forking out the $money$ to actually pay for this stuff. One person buys an entertainment product and a little while later discovers that they can’t do the simple and obvious things that they had come to expect that they could do with it; like backing it up or moving it to another medium like the car stereo. Suddenly the perceived value of this entertainment item drops to half or less of its previous value. So the consumer is only willing to pay $8 for the same CD that they were willing to previously buy at $16 when the CD or CD player has copy prevention technology built into it.

Now the entertainment corporation is raising the price to pay for the development of this new technology and also raising the price because the competition (from easy copies) is now restrained. So the perceived value (and price) will begin going down at the same time that the price for the entertainment product is shooting up. SO HOW EXACTLY is this supposed to be good for the entertainment company or the artist? It must be that they fundamentally assume that because they are so cool and beautiful that the vast dork masses will buy the product regardless of how much it costs, how difficult it is to use or how much restriction is enforced upon the product. This is precisely what happens when entertainment people start talking business with computer people. The greed goes recursive and you end up with the worst mentalities of both industries in one package.

In the long run (10 years plus or minus) this mentality will only act to reduce the importance and viability of the entertainment corporations, which is exactly what they’re afraid of. [Think DMCA = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMCA ]. Their board[s] of directors will look to spin off the entertainment divisions in the way that everyone is now trying to dump their record companies. Maybe DRM is nothing more than a long term plan on the part of the technology companies to seriously depress the value of the entertainment companies so that ten years from now (when all the ultra-fast download-entertainment-directly-to-the-home technology is in place) they will be able to buy the entertainment companies for a tiny fraction of what they are worth now. Or maybe it’s just the fantasy of immature greed-headed yuppies with too much access to other people’s money.

This is pure Corporate Dictatorship[ness] rearing its ugly head……or better >>> its far reaching tentacles?

They begin with saying that you don’t own the any of the media files [DVDs/CDs/etc] even if you purchase the copy [Fair Use anyone?], but in time they’ll move on to say that they [the RIAA/MPAA/M$ dictators] also own all your files, so as to be sure that you aren’t pirating or in some way ruining their archaic business models.

Not for the life of me, can I comprehend how it can be legal for ‘them’ to say what I can or cannot do with my hardware. If I decide that it’s more efficient to have those ‘bits’ stored on one of the drives or in one of my servers, what’s wrong with that? Now they’re saying I can only copy a specific pattern of ‘bits’ a limited number of times? What happens when one of my important documents matches that ‘bit pattern’?

That’s the New Freedom (c) for Amerika, I guess. Get used to it. Flash drives that can’t copy, cameras everywhere (London/NYC/Washington DC), not been able to own your own house (eminent domain), being held without charges indefinitely (patriot act). It’s all part of the New Freedom (c). See how everything is turned upside down. It’s easy.

Wait a minute…….technically we’ve never owned our own property……THINK PROPERTY TAXES………

………….

What to do……What to do????

……..WE all get to vote with our cash. (Unlike with property taxes, cameras, the patriot act, etc, where we get no say).

I used to have a Sony handheld, and after I discovered that I had to use THEIR unbelievably crappy software to put music onto it and that it would only convert it into their whack ass format that couldn’t be transferred (all done to protect their music division), I scrapped that piece of shit.

I can guarantee you I won’t be suckered like that again……..as there’s a good reason Sony went from market leader in handheld music players to being so far back in the race that you can’t even see ‘em any more.

There will be plenty of savvy people who want into the OPEN market who don’t have an agenda (except making cash of course) and who will happily promote ‘copy anything you want’ right on their packaging.

Some other thoughts I am still mulling over:

a) Any device encumbered by DRM will fail if there are alternatives available on the market. If there are no alternatives the product might enjoy a limited success until the product becomes so successful that alternatives/clones/rip-offs become inevitable.

b) All forms of DRM can be corrupted/broken/negated, and most will be broken within a matter of days or even hours.

c) Most new technology will be used in ways the inventors never imagined. Trying to restrict this behavior with DRM will surely kill your product.

………..

Maybe we all should stop using the ‘backup argument’ altogether and instead understand that…….

Most people don’t make backups. It’s a fact of life and it’s well known. That means every time you break out the “backups argument” it will probably be automatically parsed into the piracy argument by practically everybody. From the point you mention backups on, you’ve lost all credibility with everyone except for the people who already agree with you.

When you’re talking about music, talk about using it in your car. Talk about mix CDs. Talk about the iPod… just don’t talk about backups!

When you’re talking about images or video, talk about watching them in the car. Talk about watching them on your computer. Talk about getting a print made at the local photo shop. Talk about sharing home video made on your camcorder with the family. Don’t use the word backups!

http://cryptome.org/ms-drm-os.htm

http://www.epic.org/privacy/drm/default.html

http://www.eff.org/IP/DRM/

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/stream/output_protect.mspx

http://www.riaa.com/about/members/default.asp

http://www.mpaa.org/about/

thanks slashdotters!!!

Tags: drm=nope