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DRM Is Toxic to Culture

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Re: DRM Is Toxic to Culture

#131

Post by asdfpoiuqwer »

cygned wrote: post #65

Lately, I wanted to buy an eBook. I usually buy prints, but this time I needed it as soon as possible. Upon searching, every book store told me, I would need to install some Adobe stuff on my computer to read the file. I am neither a fan of Adobe nor of the idea of being locked in to an application to view a book. After realizing that there is no other digital way, I simply bought the printed version and waited the t…

Did you consider pirating the e-book?

To check the ethical box, I would've just used the pirated e-book version immediately and ordered a hard-copy.

Re: DRM Is Toxic to Culture

#132

Post by the8472 »

makecheck wrote: post #7

DRM and advertising tech have a similar problem of bad execution. Sure, there exists a way to do each of these that many may consider "reasonable" but in practice industries have shown that they would rather be obnoxious and make everything annoying or just much more difficult than necessary. This means they can't be trusted to do it well, and the solution must be to avoid it completely (DRM-free content and ad block…

Well-done DRM is even worse, because it normalizes usurping control from your machine in the name of protecting the interests of a 3rd party.

Re: DRM Is Toxic to Culture

#133

Post by Silhouette »

zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC wrote: post #127
Silhouette wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And DRM prevents that how exactly? It depends on the form of DRM and its effects. One practical scenario is that most of the revenue from a new work may be generated in the early days. This is often the case with things like computer games, pop music, and big ticket movies. If DRM delays those trying to set up copycat channels, even by a few days or weeks, much of that revenue may already have been collected. Another…

> Democracy only works when the population is properly informed and understands the implications. That's hardly the case in the sort of situation I mentioned above. And so we install draconian enforcement technology in everyone's home ... in order to make people more informed on the issue?

Who said anything about draconian measures? Most modern DRM is almost completely transparent to legitimate users, particularly the technologies used with rental models rather than permanent purchases (where as I've said elsewhere I think both the ethics and practicalities are somewhat different).

It's easy to snipe from the cheap seats, so let me ask you some questions now instead. Do you believe that financial models other than a complete, permanent purchase of a copy of a work are useful? And if so, how would you propose to set up a realistic rental/library/PPV scheme for digital content without relying on anything that could be called DRM?

Re: DRM Is Toxic to Culture

#134

Post by zokier »

cygned wrote: post #65

Lately, I wanted to buy an eBook. I usually buy prints, but this time I needed it as soon as possible. Upon searching, every book store told me, I would need to install some Adobe stuff on my computer to read the file. I am neither a fan of Adobe nor of the idea of being locked in to an application to view a book. After realizing that there is no other digital way, I simply bought the printed version and waited the t…

Reading Kindle books does not require any Adobe stuff. You can just read them on your browser, or via a Kindle app on your PC/device. Sure, it is still DRMd, but at least the UX on the happy path is halfway decent.

Re: DRM Is Toxic to Culture

#135

Post by jdormit »

zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC wrote: post #41
skywhopper wrote: post #26

I would say that DRM is merely an inevitable outgrowth of our society's enshrinement and worship of the idea of "intellectual property". That word, "property", gives the opposite connotations of "copyright"--permanent rightful ownership vs a temporary grant of monopoly on an idea. But yes, it's definitely the case that the cultural idea that humans and corporations have the right to own a copyright for a length of ti…

And the really weird part is that while the propaganda puts it as "protecting property", it really has exactly the opposite effect. When you buy a physical book, that book is indeed your property, and you can do with it whatever you want. Now, with DRM-infested ebooks, you are actually just licensing it for very restricted use. You might as well be claiming that making private home ownership illegal would strengthen…

A better analogy would be to landlords rights vs. renters rights. DRM sets conceptually equivalent restrictions on protected media as leases set on rented property.

The difference, of course, is that it is very hard/impossible to break the restrictions set by DRM, whereas the restrictions set by leases are hard to enforce.

The problem that I see is that the language around DRM needs to change - you aren't buying that Kindle book, you are renting it from Amazon under a digitally-enforced lease.

So DRM is protecting property - it's just not protecting consumers' property, since they effectively don't actually own the media in the first place.

Re: DRM Is Toxic to Culture

#136

Post by jdormit »

pharrington wrote: post #121
scrollaway wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm getting a little exhausted in every thread about DRM and the likes to read about how "people don't listen to RMS". People don't listen to RMS because he makes no effort to be listened to and constantly takes absolutist stances which only harm what he defends. In the case of DRM, many people have been talking about this problem for a long time. It's not a matter of consumers not listening, it's a matter of alterna…

Stallman's a philosopher, so his precision and consistency in how he interprets the digital world is actually mandatory. Do you know the time limits for how long your games can run in Steam's offline mode?

I'm pretty sure you can just go to the steamapps directory and run the .exes directly

Re: DRM Is Toxic to Culture

#137

Post by zokier »

skywhopper wrote: post #26

I would say that DRM is merely an inevitable outgrowth of our society's enshrinement and worship of the idea of "intellectual property". That word, "property", gives the opposite connotations of "copyright"--permanent rightful ownership vs a temporary grant of monopoly on an idea. But yes, it's definitely the case that the cultural idea that humans and corporations have the right to own a copyright for a length of ti…

>That word, "property", gives the opposite connotations of "copyright"--permanent rightful ownership vs a temporary grant of monopoly on an idea.

I'd point out that generally copyright protects only executions of an idea, not the idea itself. This is pretty much on what for example the existence of GNU and Linux hinge on; they implement the idea of UNIX despite AT&T claiming copyright on UNIX.

Patents, on the other hand, do extend to ideas, and are completely different story.

Re: DRM Is Toxic to Culture

#138

Post by [deleted] »

Silhouette wrote: post #112
jasonkostempski wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"you are still restricted by the state from making copies of that book" Is that true or can you just not sell the copies? "You cannot take passages from that book and reuse them as your own, unless given permission by the author." Again, pretty sure that's only when selling things.

It depends on where you are. In the US, some activities like this might fall under fair use, and therefore be legal. In much of the rest of the first world, the ways in which you can copy or share a work under copyright are specifically listed in the laws, and the mere act of making the copy might itself be an infringement. However, also in those places outside the US, non-commercial infringement is typically a civil…

[deleted]

Re: DRM Is Toxic to Culture

#139

Post by pharrington »

jdormit wrote: post #136
pharrington wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stallman's a philosopher, so his precision and consistency in how he interprets the digital world is actually mandatory. Do you know the time limits for how long your games can run in Steam's offline mode?

I'm pretty sure you can just go to the steamapps directory and run the .exes directly

The DRM happens in the game's steam_api.dll, which the game executable is linked to.

Re: DRM Is Toxic to Culture

#140

Post by icebraining »

jasonkostempski wrote: post #103
RandomOpinion wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Businesses could prevent that by requiring employees to agree to a separate, permanent contract not to release any code as part of the conditions for being hired.

And they could all refuse to sign, or demand a much higher salary, due the high risk of that contract easily being broken by accident. 1 stolen unencrypted laptop, or source control checkout over an unencrypted channel, is all it would take.

And they could all refuse to sign, or demand a much higher salary

Right. And you can already refuse to accept a job if all the code you produce isn't open sourced. Good luck with that on most companies, though.

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