DMCA bad for Apple Users 304
Aguazul writes "TidBITS has published a really strong article on the DMCA and on how this is bad for Apple users, with some good links and suggestions for action. The author, Adam Engst, is regularly voted the most influential person in the Mac world outside of Apple, so this is a serious wake-up call to Apple users everywhere."
Not quite the case in full (Score:4, Insightful)
Can't we all get together on this just for once?
Re:Not quite the case in full (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Not quite the case in full (Score:2)
of course (Score:4, Insightful)
Now if they can't use some existing copyrighted work in private to flex their creative muscles, they won't be creative anymore...
(I wrote "is known as", it doesn't mean I actually endorse this vision)
Re:of course (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:of course (Score:2)
It's a conspiracy (Score:4, Funny)
DMCA works for "The Little Guy?" (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:DMCA works for "The Little Guy?" (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:DMCA works for "The Little Guy?" (Score:4, Informative)
Wrong. [pioneer.co.jp] They're not cheap (and nor are the blanks), so it's hardly a "consumer-grade" unit, but there are no restrictions on purchasing or ownership, so anyone can own one.
Re:DMCA works for "The Little Guy?" (Score:3, Interesting)
Can you give more information about CSS - there was nothing on that page that even hinted at it.
Who's key do you use? (there are a fixed number) Is the CSS authoring implemented in software or hardware? Why do they not even mention CSS on the page?
And conversely.... (Score:2)
Re:And conversely.... (Score:3, Interesting)
True story... (Score:4, Interesting)
Another buddy was being driven to frustration trying to edit digital video on his PC. So, my Mac friend hauls his Mac over, and they go out and buy iDVD.
Turns out that Apple has put a firmware check in the software. When you launch it, iDVD checks for an Apple DVD player, and if it doesn't find one, doesn't load.
"Ah!" My friend says, "I'll just buy a DVD burner...I wanted one anyway!"
But Apple won't sell you a bare drive. If you want a DVD burner, you have to buy a whole new Mac.
An enterprising man made software that would sit between iDVD and a 'regular' DVD burner, and make iDVD think it was an Apple drive. Apple threatened him under the DMCA, and got him to remove his software from the market.
Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:True story... (Score:5, Informative)
Check the minimum system requirements:
iDVD 2.0 or later.
Mac OS X, v10.1.3 or later.
Any Power Macintosh G4, G4 iMac, or eMac equipped with a built-in Apple SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW drive).
Minimum of 256MB of RAM installed with 384MB recommended.
From the FAQ:
Can I use iDVD 2 with other CD-R or DVD-R drives?
No. iDVD 2 is designed to work only with the Apple SuperDrive available on certain configurations of iMac and Power Mac G4 computers.
It's not their fault you didn't read the information clearly presented before you bought it.
Re:True story... (Score:2)
***
he knew it might not work(without a hack, and that hack he missed).
There's a very legitimate reason for this. (Score:3, Informative)
That said, Apple has to pay a licensing fee for for the technology in iDVD and that fee is included in the purchase of the computer (y'know, those overpriced ones?).
Re:True story... (Score:4, Insightful)
That's called "bending the truth". For your friend to have had a possession of iDVD without having purchased a mac with a DVD burner in built, he must have pirated the software.
Apple's application of the DMCA wasn't because he had modified the software. It was because his need to modify the software arose only due to pirating iDVD.
Apple's application of the law in this instance is entirely defendable.
-- james
Re:True story... (Score:3, Insightful)
To keep this slightly on-topic, I think it's great that Apple is taking a stand (haven't read the article,
There are no nice companies. IBM might support Linux and play by the rules, but their just looking after their market share.
Re:True story... (Score:5, Insightful)
To be perfectly honest, this is the real reason that they asked the update to be pulled. Kinda comes back to Apple's mantra - if it can't work reliably, it can't work. They didn't want iDVD etc out there with a whole lot of untested DVD burners.
It was pulled after a whole lot of support issues cropped up on the Apple support website. Which is fair enough.
-- james
Re:True story... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:True story... (Score:2)
It's prety black and white, and apple is clearly in the white. Do a little more reading on this topic and you will realize the posts on slashdot under "Apple enforces the DMCA" are prety much all incorrect.
Re:True story... (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, this is not necesarily true. My brother just bought one of the new 1 GHz TiBooks without a DVD-R drive and it came included with iDVD. It was apparently just cheaper to have one standard build of the software for the 1 GHz TiBooks. Legal copy, no DVD-R.
Re:True story... (Score:4, Insightful)
The thing is the software does not support other drives. If another manufacter wants to sell a DVD burner then they have to either do one of two things if they want it to work with Macs.
1. Write their own
2. License someone else (even iDVD). No one has obtained a license to bundle iDVD therefore it is not sold or supported to work with it.
You *can* legally buy a copy of idvd (Score:2)
i ended up spending around $600 for idvd and a dvd-r drive and firewire enclosure only to find out that idvd only supports superdives.
so in fact, apple's application of the dmca is not cool. in my case, i would have loved to have the patch for that and in fact i looked for quite a while and then just gave up.
apple has a nifty os & apps just to sell the hardware. just like m$ has a crappy os to sell office software..
Re:You *can* legally buy a copy of idvd (Score:4, Insightful)
i did. and, of course, it's very tough to find some fine print that says it requires a super drive.
Yeah, very tough. I mean, you'd have to read the FAQ or the item description at the Apple Store.
From the iDVD FAQ [apple.com]:
When it comes to burning DVDs, iDVD 2 is designed to work only with the iMac and Power Mac G4 computers with SuperDrive. DVD Studio Pro can be used with the SuperDrive as well as with third-party DVD-R drives on Macintosh computers that don't ship with a DVD-R drive.
Can I use iDVD 2 with other CD-R or DVD-R drives?
No. iDVD 2 is designed to work only with the Apple SuperDrive available on certain configurations of iMac and Power Mac G4 computers.
From The Apple Store [apple.com]:
System Requirements
Apple is obviously trying to hide this information by putting it in plain sight, those damn sneaky bastards...
apple has a nifty os & apps just to sell the hardware. just like m$ has a crappy os to sell office software..
Yes, and McDonald's uses free toys to sell Happy meals, and Sports Illustrated uses the swimsuit issue to sell magazine subscriptions, and cereal manufacturers use toys and junk to sell puffed corn and/or colored marshmallows, etc. The difference between all of these (Apple included) and Microsoft is that freebies that people actually want are being used as a competitive advantage instead of monopoly power. And this is the way things are supposed to work - convince me to buy something by offering something I actually want. Apple clearly has it right, because lots of people seem to want to use iDVD. It's not Apple's fault that you went about getting it the wrong way.
Sorry, wrong. (Score:4, Informative)
Um, no. iDVD is freely downloadable from Apple's Web site [apple.com].
As for not supporting other DVD burners, there's two reasons for this. One is because Apple wants to propel sales of SuperDrive-equipped Macs, which is within their rights to do (after all, the iDVD software is completely free). Those who want to use external third-party burners may pay big bucks for DVD Studio Pro [apple.com]. The second reason is because Apple needs to support drivers for all those other burners, and they'd rather spend their time right now developing the software. iTunes followed the same curve: it initially only supported Apple-branded CD burners, then gradually expanded its support for third-party burners as the software matured.
However, it is possible to buy a SuperDrive (Pioneer DVR-105 [pioneerelectronics.com]) direct from its manufacturer and install it in a G4 Mac. So upgrading isn't completely out of the question, it's just a very narrow range of options.
Re:Sorry, wrong. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:True story... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:True story... (Score:2)
Re:True story... (Score:3, Insightful)
Small Dog knows better.
OWC has done some stupid things in the past.
FUD (Score:2, Informative)
as for support for third party DVD burners, your "friend" (assuming they exist) could have bought DVD Studio Pro, Apple's retail product for driving such devices.
Apple didn't hammer the guy over the iDVD hack because he was on the side of the little guy, but because his software was killing their sales by enabling users of a freebe iApp to get the same functionality they're expected to pay for from the retail apps.
Re:FUD (Score:4, Informative)
iDVD 2.0 or later. Mac OS X, v10.1.3 or later. Any Power Macintosh G4, G4 iMac, or eMac equipped with a built-in Apple SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW drive). Minimum of 256MB of RAM installed with 384MB recommended.
The iDVD DVD (it comes on DVD) has well over a gig of data on it, and you will only find it for download on warez servers.
Re:True story... (Score:5, Insightful)
You can't buy iDVD without buying a new Mac either. So your friend probably pirated iDVD.
Apple sells Macs. That's how they make money. As an incentive to buy a high-end Mac, Apple throws iDVD in as a free pack-in with systems that have a DVD burner. Apple doesn't include iDVD with every Mac, just the ones with DVD burners. iDVD(unlike the rest of the i-apps) is not free. Apple didn't invest their money in developing iDVD just to have a thousand other companies give it away with DVD drives that take sales away from Apple's bottom line.
If you want a DVD burner, get one from Pioneer($400). If you want encoding software, Apple is more than happy to sell you DVD Studio Pro, which works with any DVD burner($1000). If you want DVD burning software, Roxio has a kickin' version of Toast 5($100). Just don't expect to get freebies when you haven't paid your dues. The above solution will only cost you $1500. A new Mac with DVD burning capability can cost as little as $1000(check ebay [ebay.com] or smalldog [smalldog.com] for an old G4/733 system with a SuperDrive).
Problem #2: Editing video.
You don't need iDVD to edit digital video.
What you really needed was iMovie, which is included for free with every Mac. It's also available for download from Apple.
Then you can burn VCD's with Toast or dump the video back to the PC and burn with whatever PC burning software you like.
Problem #3: Replacement parts.
Apple sells replacement parts, including SuperDrives.
If you wanted one that badly, and wanted it to work with your questionable copy of iDVD, then you should've gotten a "replacement" SuperDrive.
Of course, this wouldn't be cheap, but at least it would work. And you'd have to pay Apple for their product. What a concept.
Problem #4: Entitlement.
You assume Apple owes you something. They don't.
Apple makes the whole widget. If it breaks, get a replacement part. If you just want to upgrade, well, go buy a new widget. It's their business, and it seems to pay rather well. Get over it. They don't owe you a damn thing. Especially not when you're expecting them to give their livelihood away for free.
Problem #5: The DMCA.
The DMCA is a problem.
Of course, in this instance, the DMCA was doing exactly what it was supposed to do - protect a copyrighted work. Software is a copyrighted work, iDVD included. If Apple(who owns the copyright) says that you can't use it that way, then you can't use it that way! It's their decision. There was a validity check in the software. To bypass that without permission from the copyright holder is wrong. (This applies to DVDs too, since you can make a bit-for-bit copy as a backup, and you can still use it on your PC. You can even make a disk image. You just can't break CSS.)
The End...
I'm sorry if this sounds a bit harsh, but it's rather irritating to see all these jackals leeching off of one of the few companies that's actually trying to do something right(or at least different). Support them with your dollars if you want to use their product. If you don't want to pay, don't use it.
Matt
Re:True story... (Score:2)
Re:True story... (Score:2, Insightful)
The Real Story (Score:5, Informative)
> Actually, I read about some manufacturer of an
> external Firewire DVD-RW drive that made a piece
> of software for the Mac that would hack iDVD so
> that it would work with their drive.
>
> It lasted until Apple found out and told them to
> stop altering their software. I can't recall the
> manufacturer, but I think I read about it in a
> MacWorld article last month.
The manufacturer was Other World Computing, and you have related the original version of the story (which broke around August 12th) accurately. In that version, Other World Computing claimed Apple had *requested* that they drop it because it violated the iDVD license, and OWC had complied to preserve their good relationship with Apple.
There was *no* mention of the DMCA, and no need to invoke it as Apple's iDVD license is quite clear.
The DMCA accusation came weeks later and was only based on a quote from Other World Computing's president. There was no quote from any document they received from Apple, no posting of any document as proof, and no confirmation from Apple.
My personal impression was that the DMCA accusation was an afterthought on the part of OWC's president to make Apple look bad. If Apple really used the DMCA, I want to see more proof than the word of someone with an axe to grind.
Chief Tsujimori: "I won't let you get away. I will never let you escape."
Godzilla elegantly lifts his tail skyward to give her the "finger", crashes it down on the water, and submerges.
"Godzilla X Megagiras", 2000
Re:True story... (Score:2)
As for OWC, it's been said before, what OWC did was crack and redistribute the software with computers that the software was not designed to be distributed with. Simmilar to if for some god unknown reason you wrote a crack that would get Windows to run on a Sun machine and started selling Suns with cracked versions of windows, M$ would come down on you real fast.
All of us (Score:2, Interesting)
Article (Score:4, Informative)
by Adam C. Engst <ace@tidbits.com [mailto]>
Much has been written about what's wrong with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). After all, it's been used to jail programmers, threaten professors, and censor publications, and because of it, foreign scientists have avoided traveling to the U.S. and prominent researchers have withheld their work. In a white paper about the unintended consequences of the DMCA, the Electronic Frontier Foundation argues that the DMCA chills free expression and scientific research, jeopardizes fair use, and impedes competition and innovation. In short, this is a law that only the companies who paid for it could love.
<http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/20020503_dmca_conseq uences.html
[eff.org]>
<http://www.educause.edu/issues/dmca.html [educause.edu]>
<http://anti-dmca.org/ [anti-dmca.org]>
Just who are we talking about here? Primarily the large movie studios and record labels, who own the copyrights on vast quantities of content and who have been working with one another and via their industry associations, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), to control how we are allowed to interact with that content. Their unity of purpose and storm-trooper tactics have led some to dub them the Content Cartel.
<http://www.riaa.org/ [riaa.org]>
<http://www.mpaa.org/ [mpaa.org]>
However, the DMCA is merely one link in a chain that's being used by the Content Cartel and many others to restrict access to the shared cultural heritage of the world, and in the process, extract money from our pockets, stifle innovation and competition, and protect entrenched interests.
DMCA and Trusted Systems -- I recently attended a talk by Professor Tarleton Gillespie <tlg28@cornell.edu [mailto]> of Cornell University in which he made a compelling argument for how the Content Cartel is using the legal force of the DMCA to direct us down a path where content cannot exist outside of a trusted system, which is a set of hardware, software, and file formats that all agree on what the user is allowed to do with a piece of content. (The trust here is between the pieces of the system, because the content owners don't trust their customers at all.) The trusted system's goals are simple - to eliminate all unauthorized uses and create a situation where we pay more for the content we consume.
A trusted system could prevent you not only from copying a CD or DVD, but also from listening to the CD more than a certain number of times in a day or skipping commercials on a DVD or on broadcast television. Along with requiring us to buy new hardware to play such content and buy new protected versions of the content we already own, a trusted system could have another ill effect. That's because it could prevent us from working with content we would create, using tools such as those Apple kindly provides in iMovie, iDVD, iTunes, and iPhoto. In the worst case scenario, Apple could lose not just the Mac's current digital media advantage in the marketplace, but the ability to work with digital media at all. See Cory Doctorow's article on the broadcast flag in TidBITS-642 [slashdot.org] for more on this disturbing possibility.
< http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06901 [tidbits.com]>
Professor Gillespie illustrated how this could happen with a discussion of the awkwardly named Content Scramble System (CSS), used to prevent people from copying DVDs, and the DeCSS software created by a Norwegian teenager with help from others on the Internet to build a Linux DVD player.
(A brief aside: DeCSS violates the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions, which ban devices or services that are designed primarily to circumvent copy prevention technologies, that have only limited commercially significant purpose other than circumvention, or that are marketed for circumvention. The DMCA was signed into law in large part to bring the U.S. into compliance with a pair of World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaties that require anti-circumvention protections in the copyright law of signatory nations. You might think Norway would be included among the nations signing these WIPO treaties, but in fact, only 37 countries have signed on, including the U.S. and Japan, along with the likes of Kyrgyzstan, Gabon, and Paraguay. We're not talking about full international support here, especially in contrast to the 149 signatories to the more general and long-standing Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.)
<http://www.wipo.int/treaties/ip/wct/ [wipo.int]>
<http://www.wipo.int/treaties/ip/berne/ [wipo.int]>
In particular, Professor Gillespie focused on three defenses used in the court case filed against Eric Corley, publisher of the hacker magazine 2600, by eight movie studios to prevent 2600 from publishing the DeCSS software. Although Eric Corley didn't create DeCSS, he made it available on the 2600 Web site. His lawyers' defenses focused on ways DeCSS might escape the anti-circumvention provisions in the DMCA, which was the law under which the case was being tried.
Let's look at these defenses, all of which the court eventually dismissed in ruling for the movie studios and enjoining 2600 magazine from posting the DeCSS code. A subsequent appeal also failed, and the defendants chose not to appeal again to the Supreme Court (probably a wise move - this particular case struck me as fairly weak).
<http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/MPAA_DVD_cases/2000 0830_ny_amended_opinion.pdf [eff.org]>1 28_ny_appeal_decision.html [eff.org]>
<http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/MPAA_DVD_cases/20011
Create a Linux Player -- The primary defense that Eric Corley's legal team, funded by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), advanced was that CSS was reverse engineered and DeCSS written to further the development of a DVD player for Linux, which allegedly had no way of playing DVDs at the time (four players are available now; see the Linux Journal review linked below for details). Unfortunately, the judge deemed the defense utterly irrelevant because the DMCA offers no relief based on motivation. In short, if a technology violates the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions, the purpose for which that technology was created simply doesn't matter. The judge also wasn't impressed with the fact that DeCSS is actually a Windows program, so although it could be argued that it was a necessary step in the creation of a Linux DVD player, it's a weak argument.
<http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=564 4 [linuxjournal.com]>
The obstacle that actually lies in the way of creating a DVD player is the lack of a key to decrypt the CSS encryption used on DVDs. The only way to come by such a key is to sign a contract licensing CSS from the DVD Copy Control Association (DVD CCA), a group made up of companies representing the movie studios, consumer electronics companies, and the computer industry. At $15,500, the licensing cost is not usurious, but the contract effectively prevents individuals and small organizations from licensing CSS. For instance, in the event of a material breach of contract, the licensee is liable for $1 million, and damages can grow to a maximum of $8 million. In addition, the contract prevents licensees from reverse engineering CSS or working in any way counter to the goal of CSS's protection of DVDs.
Put simply, the CSS license is the sort of thing only large companies can reasonably sign, so it's clear that the effect of the DVD CCA contract is to keep newcomers out of the cozy little club. Perhaps that wasn't a likely concern before the age of the Internet, but the rise of Linux and the open source movement shows that small, informal groups organized over the Internet can produce software that threatens the largest of companies.
The end result here is that innovation is stifled. Companies that license CSS cannot, even if they wanted to, produce products that consumers might like to buy, such as DVD recorders that could copy a DVD. That keeps new companies, niche players, or even independent programmers from competing with the consumer electronics giants with innovative features that in any way run afoul of CSS. So although the consumer electronics companies might not have minded consumers copying DVDs, since they would sell the equipment to make that happen, it's worthwhile for them to abide by CSS to eliminates potential competition.
Equally as problematic is that the CSS license's numerous requirements force the consumer electronics firms to be technologically responsible for regulating our movie viewing and copying behaviors for the studios. Signing this draconian contract is an all-or-nothing deal, so the movie studios have cleverly managed to pass off the dirty work of technological regulation on everyone else (they just produce the content; the DVD and player manufacturers must implement CSS). It's a big step toward a trusted system in which all the parties are bound by the CSS contract.
(As an aside, another effect of the CSS contracts is also to move the entire issue from the world of copyright law, where there is at least some presumption of needing to benefit the public, into the world of contract law, which doesn't give a damn about the public good. If this continues to the logical extreme, the concept of copyright, and unauthorized access to any content, could be locked up forever in simple contracts that lie underneath a trusted system's technologies, all backed up by the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions.)
Perform Encryption Research -- Another defense that Eric Corley's lawyers put forth was that DeCSS was created as research into the CSS encryption method, since the DMCA does allow copy-prevention technologies to be circumvented for encryption research. However, the DMCA specifically requires that the encrypted copy be obtained lawfully and that the person performing the research make a good faith effort to obtain authorization in advance. In addition, the decryption tools from such research may be shared only with collaborators for good faith research purposes - in other words, distributing these tools publicly isn't kosher.
Note the words good faith above. In determining whether encryption research is good faith, the judge said the court must determine whether the results are disseminated in a way that advances the state of knowledge of encryption technology, whether the person is engaged in legitimate study of work in encryption, and whether the results are communicated to the copyright owner in a timely fashion. Deciding that none of these tests were true of Eric Corley, the judge dismissed out of hand the claims that DeCSS had protection under the encryption research exception to the DMCA.
Looking past the specifics of this case, consider the ways in which encryption research is considered to be in good faith. You must be a legitimate researcher, have a goal of advancing the state of knowledge, and have at least made an effort to get authorization from the copyright owner. Now think about how these requirements completely disenfranchise the interested individuals and the Internet technical geek community. What does it take to be considered a legitimate researcher - a white coat, thick glasses, and a job with a university, corporation, or government body?
What we're seeing here is how the DMCA in essence props up the status quo, denying that legitimate research could be done outside the halls of academia or a company's R&D department. Left on the outside are the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers... oh hell, go read the rest of Here's to the crazy ones from Apple's Think Different ad campaign for yourself. Whether we're talking about Apple's target audience or the open source community that has had Microsoft running scared is immaterial. The point is that the DMCA, supported by this court ruling, prevents that sort of person from doing anything that's not sanctioned.
<http://www.apple.com/thinkdifferent/ [apple.com]>
Report as a Journalist -- A third defense that Eric Corley's lawyers offered was that posting DeCSS was protected by the First Amendment's protection of the press, and by the First Amendment in general. It took the judge significantly longer to dispose of this defense, since free speech issues are notoriously tricky, but in the end, he concluded that the speech in this case is content-neutral due to the functional nature of the DeCSS code. He then went on to note that regulation of content-neutral speech is acceptable if it advances the government's interests and that preventing the copying of digital works is a government interest due to the existence of the Copyright Clause in the U.S. Constitution and the importance to the U.S. economy of exporting copyrighted materials.
If you haven't looked at the Constitution recently, the Copyright Clause reads, To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries. Personally, I come down on the side of copyright existing to benefit society through the progress of science and the useful arts, and only secondarily to give authors and inventors exclusive rights. By my reading, the government interest thus lies in promoting the progress of science and the useful arts, and there's no question that the DMCA eliminates progress.
<http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constit ution.articlei.html [cornell.edu]>
But I digress. The final result of the case was that Eric Corley and 2600 may not post DeCSS on their Web site or knowingly link their Web site to any other site on which DeCSS is posted. The decision was worded carefully so that linking in general would not be affected by the DMCA, but only in cases where those responsible for the link (a) know at the relevant time that the offending material is on the linked-to site, (b) know that it is circumvention technology that may not lawfully be offered, and (c) create or maintain the link for the purpose of disseminating that technology.
In other words, it's acceptable to link to DeCSS if your intent is not to disseminate DeCSS, but merely to report on its availability, a fact I proved to my satisfaction with a trivial Google search on download DeCSS that provided over 17,000 hits, many of them still functional. You can verify this for yourself; just remember that DeCSS is only for Windows.
<http://www.google.com/search?q=download+DeCSS [google.com]>
Here's where Professor Gillespie's argument becomes a bit more speculative. Although the court went no further in this case, he suggested that in any future cases in which the legitimacy of linking was called into question, he felt that the court would include in its deliberation the nature of the publication in question. For example, if the New York Times chose to link to DeCSS or some other technology that violated the DMCA (as in fact the San Jose Mercury News and Wired News have, in making the point that a ban on linking is seriously problematic), he felt that the court would have little trouble accepting the journalistic intent of the link. On the other hand, if some silly little electronic newsletter aimed at Macintosh and Internet users were to perform the same action, he was concerned that it would be more difficult to make the same defense. And if TidBITS wouldn't match up to the journalistic level of the New York Times in the eyes of a theoretical court, what about a blogger?
The end result would be that this court's interpretation of the DMCA could have the same effect of stabilizing the large news organizations in favor of the small newsletters and bloggers who are redefining what journalism means in today's Internet-enabled world. Speaking as someone who has done some of that redefining over the last 12 years, that worries me.
Regime of Arrangement -- In the end, Professor Gillespie argues that the true power of the DMCA is not so much related to its effect on copyright but these ways it weaves established organizations like large manufacturing corporations, research universities, and media conglomerates into what Professor Gillespie calls a regime of arrangement.
Don't assume that these established institutions are necessarily being co-opted against their will. Apple's Think Different campaign reads like a manifesto for the very people who are disenfranchised under this regime of arrangement, and yet Apple is a member of the DVD CCA, and, obviously, a licensee of CSS for the DVD hardware and software that comes with the Mac. The open source community has proved the power of teams of independent programmers as an alternative to the traditional software development model, not to mention the ivory towers of research institutions. Distance education hints at the decline of the traditional university, and entrenched media organizations have struggled for years with the way the Internet lets anyone be a publisher.
If there's one theme we take into the 21st century, it's decentralization, and you can see it everywhere. The PC overtaking the mainframe, Napster changing the face of music distribution despite the recording industry's best efforts, DeCSS causing the movie studios conniptions, Linux successfully challenging the mighty Microsoft's server operating systems, even the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon - all are examples of the power of decentralization and the ever-increasing clash between these forces of decentralization and the centralized power structures that control everything about our world. I have no answers here, but I'd note that despite the awesome power of both systems, I'm seeing the forces of decentralization making significant inroads.
What Can We Do? I've been attending a number of talks on copyright and intellectual property issues at Cornell over the last year. Almost without exception, the talks are warnings of dark times ahead (obviously, most are slanted toward the academic and library worlds), but at the same time, none have offered any suggestions for how we can work to reverse the efforts on the part of the Content Cartel to lock up our cultural heritage and stifle innovation for the future.
At a recent talk by Alan Davidson of the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), I chatted with Alan afterwards about this problem, and he agreed it was a concern, but had no silver bullet to prevent the hordes of well-funded Content Cartel lobbyists from having their way with our elected representatives. I, too, have trouble knowing what will be effective, but I offer these possibilities.
<http://www.cdt.org/ [cdt.org]>
Spread the word to everyone you know. In most cases, the best argument is probably that the entire situation is a move on the part of big business to make everyone buy new consumer electronics and new copies of all of their content. If the Content Cartel gets their way, it will cost you. In some situations, making the intellectual commons argument - that our culture needs access to its cultural heritage to grow - can be effective, though it's generally too abstract. Try to avoid sounding like a zealot (I know it's hard: every time I hear of the latest attempt on the part of these companies to criminalize their customers, it makes me want to spit.)
Support civil liberties organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and CDT that are working to protect our rights. As you'll see in the PayBITS block at the end of this article, I plan to donate all the proceeds from this article to the EFF to help do my part.
<http://www.eff.org/ [eff.org]>
Between 19-Nov-02 and 18-Dec-02, write to the Library of Congress with any evidence you can provide on whether non-infringing uses of certain types of copyrighted materials are likely to be adversely affected by the DMCA's anti-circumvention mechanisms. To get an idea of what they're looking for, I highly recommend reading Dan Bricklin's Copy Protection Robs the Future essay, in which he talks about his efforts to post an original copy of VisiCalc, the ground-breaking spreadsheet program he created.
<http://www.copyright.gov/1201/comment_forms/ [copyright.gov]>
<http://www.bricklin.com/robfuture.htm [bricklin.com]>
Express your concerns to your elected representatives whenever appropriate. EFF maintains an action center that makes it extremely easy to write your appropriate representatives. While you're at it, you might ask how it is that an entire industry is allowed to create a restrictive technology like CSS, require highly limiting contracts, and influence legislation (the DMCA). One of the industry witnesses in the Corley case testified that this three-pronged approach was exactly what the movie studios aimed at creating. Ironically, given that the end goal is a trusted system, this sounds a whole lot like the legal definition of a trust, which is a combination of corporations for the purpose of reducing competition and controlling prices throughout an industry.
<http://action.eff.org/ [eff.org]>
I have to admit, I'm worried that none of this will be enough. The Content Cartel has the aura of celebrity on their side - they're protecting the rock stars and movie stars who sit at the pinnacle of today's society. They're the cool kids, whereas the people who campaign for civil liberties are often considered dull and overly earnest. My main ray of hope is that the reason most of the software industry voluntarily gave up copy protection technologies - primarily that consumers hated copy protection - will rise again, but unless we speak out now, all of our content may be locked up in a trusted system protected by the DMCA.
You omitted the PayPal link (Score:4, Insightful)
Why did you take out the PayPal link at the end? Especially in an article about the content cartel dinosaurs. Here it is again:
If you liked this article, go ahead and send the guy a few bucks. You accomplish TWO goals with you donation: 1) you prove that voluntary payments work, and 2) you make a donation to the EFF (you know, the one you've been meaning to make for a long time now).
I sent him a few bucks already.
huh? (Score:2)
PC, Apple, SPARC, Alpha, whatever...
Creations are creations..
and the DMCA must be abolished!!
DMCA bad for Apple users? (Score:5, Insightful)
What I find funny is how the author thinks that because Apple doesn't have a DMCA-capable OS, that is going to miss out on the "next big thing". I don't know about everyone else, but I am actively encouraged by Apple's stance. Yes, "don't steal music", but no, don't fsck users simply to placate the gorillas in the MPAA and RIAA. Until a system comes along that lets people who have legitimately bought CDs to "rip mix burn", Apple are firmly on the side of the users. Unlike the MPAA and RIAA, they give a shit about their customers.
Anyway, as a result of MS's stance, I look forward to the article about "how the DMCA is bad for windows users".
Also, now is as good a time as any - get your ass over to the Copyright Office [copyright.gov] and let them know how the DMCA has legitimately infringed on your fair use rights. They've just opened up to submissions: "The purpose of this rulemaking proceeding is to determine whether there are particular classes of works as to which users are, or are likely to be, adversely affected in their ability to make noninfringing uses due to the prohibition on circumvention"
-- james
Re:DMCA bad for Apple users? (Score:5, Insightful)
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the idea of the DMCA-capable OS to provide a secure "bed" for media? And if you're really not doing too much with "media" on your computer -- on whatever platform you have -- then what's the big deal?
I'm wring a novel. I could give a shit about whether or not I have a DMCA-capable OS. And when I want music, I have my Ipod. Yeah, I ripped my stuff into the Ipod, but they're my CDs, and I did the ripping. What's the big deal? And what does this have to with my DMCA-incapable OS?
Nothing.
Microsoft looks to be pursuing "media on the pc" in all its guts and glory. They've invested their billions into developing a secure infrastructure so that Hillary and Jack can rest easy at night. Problem with this is that if I'm a user who doesn't use the "media" options on a PC much -- if at all -- then these DMCA-capable OS have nothing to offer me because I'm not breaking any laws. I'm simply writing my papers, writing my novel, writing my short stories. I read email, browse websites, and grab whatever porn I need to get myself excited with I'm sad.
What I need is a box that lets me word process, balance my checkbook, and ignite my rocks when the rocks need igniting. None of this -- even the dumb porn -- has anything to do with Hillary or Jack or the RIAA or the MPAA.
And for god sake, I don't need to spend $199 every year for a new operating system just so Hillary and Jack can be assured by the pinhead suits at Microsofts that if I try to rip a fucking Justin Timberlake CD, I'll get all sorts of errors and skips and I'll be forced to chuck out more money for another CD.
Well, fuck Jack, fuck Hilary, and fuck Justin Timerberlake. I will not purchase new CDs -- ever. Ever again. And if I buy a CD -- and I just bought the new collection by Chris Whitley -- I'm gonna buy it used and on ebay. Sure, it's already been bought once, but I'll be goddamned if I'm gonna buy another CD when I *know* I can the damn thing for five bucks used -- and I know that the money I spend to buy it used, won't be paying for Valenti to go out and golf with my congressperson.
Here's a news flash to Microsoft. Your next big thing is not my next big thing. I got a housefull of deadtree books -- thousands of 'em -- and when I want a goddamn big thing I sit down, grab one off the shelf, and read the latest from Cormac McCarthy or dig up my ratty copy of 'Nostromo' or find that kickass new translation of the 'Iliad' that sounds like something Quentin Tarantino might have translated.
My goddamn big things don't have to do with cutesy boy-bands or stupid movies. If I want to see a movie, I'll go and see a movie. I'll actually get away from my computer, drive in my car, and pay my six bucks or whatever I need to pay to see Eminem do his thing or Johnny Knoxville and Wee Man do there's. I don't need a goddamn DMCA-capable OS to do this, and while I abhor the idea of giving Valenti any more cash to line his pockets, I *do* like movies, and I'm not gonna let the aged Valenti put a kink in my fucking lifestyle.
So take your goddamn "big things" and stuff 'em. I don't need 'em, don't want 'em. I'll figure them out for myself, thank you.
Is this flame-bait? Off-topic? I dunno. Mods have a way of not liking much of what I say when I say it like this.
Whatever.
Re:DMCA bad for Apple users? (Score:2)
The "Big Deal," as I understand it, is that the Content Cartel will team with DMCA-capable OSes so that CDs and DVDs won't be able to even play on DMCA-incapable OSes like MacOS, Linux, BSD. How pissed will you be when you put down $18 for a CD, get home and not be able to run it on your computer?
Or, maybe you'll be able to play it on MacOS, but some hardware encryption between the CD and the CD Drive disallows you from ripping the track to your iPod?
I, for one, would find that extremely disappointing.
They don't make it easy, do they? (Score:2)
I just went there with the full intention of submitting. The problem is that I don't have time to wade through their fairly obtuse, 36K Exemption to Prohibition on Circumvention of Copyright Protection Systems for Access Control Technologies [copyright.gov] document so that my submission must follow the "format detailed in the notice of inquiry". Specifically, I wasn't able to determine what the proposed class or classes of copyrighted work(s) to be exempted were, nor whether they met the requirements laid out in the scope of term "class of works" [copyright.gov]. Briefly, the term "class of works" means:
Is the CD collection I habitually store in MPEG and/or OGG format a "musical work" or a "sound recording"? Can I just pick one? I don't know.Worse than that, I don't know if I can submit comments at all. If I understand their requirements for argument(s) in support of the exemption proposed [copyright.gov], I'm not sure I can say that adding lame, easily circumvented copy proctection to CDs is enough to allow me to ask for an exemption. Here's what they say I need to tell them:
First of all, they'll say that the work is available on cassette and I can copy from that (a comparision between DVD and VHS is buried in that doc). Second, can I quantify adverse effects the lack of an exemption has caused or provide legal arguments in favor of an exemption? I don't know. Do I already have a legal right to use-shift or time-shift copyrighted works I've purchased? Search me; I'm not a lawyer. Do I need to know this before I research arguments towards an exemption? Good question.I'm glad you mentioned the submission form, and I hope enough people with more free time on their hands than me can put together enough arguments that the DMCA ia reviewed and exemptions are provided. I'd just like to point out to people that it's not as easy as filling in a web form with "I need to be able to make my Eminmem MP3s..." They want people to say things like "If the only way to access the complete works of Charlie Parker are via DMCA-restricted means, then we need an examption" and then show them, in a way detailed enough for a government employee to understand, why that is the case.
-B
bad for All, Apple first good example. (Score:3, Insightful)
I read him a little different than you did, it's not the next big thing, it's survival he's worried about. He has realized is that Apple as a creative platform is doomed if the "Content Cartel" has it's way. He understands that everyone loses when content can not be coppied because it perishes and we are all that much poorer in the future. He also tells us the currently proposed means of achieving the goal of copy protection also furthers goals of entrenched content providers by limiting the number of new entrants through propriatory formats, patents and the DCMA's anti-circumvention clause. What he's put together from all of those broad, bad for everyone laws and methods, is very specific bad news for a company like Apple who's market has primarily been the artisians that create in the first place. He has realized that Apple is getting put on the outside of the "copy enabled" world because Apple represents too large a source of likely competition to the Cartel.
It's hypocritical of Apple to wake up now after so many years of feeding the cartel that will eradicate them. For years Apple has been more expensive than other computer platforms because, in part, they were paying licensing fees for the privalidge of creating works of art in propriatory formats. The time to object was long ago when the deviding lines were made between those who could create and those who could not. By pushing its own patents and copyrights, Apple has strengthened the had that now threatens to crush it.
The obvious solution the author overlooked is free software and formats. He does not even mention them as he wallows in the "artist must be paid" logic that inevitably favors the cartel. From the Rosetta stone to VisiCalc, the authors were paid to create. The conditions the authors worked under were determined by the society they lived in. If we seek to screw others and think it's right to do so, we can expect to be screwed. When we seek to exclude, we create the conditions of our own exclusion.
Think different, sahib (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Think different, sahib (Score:2)
Re:Think different, sahib (Score:2)
Complete bunk. They certainly can if they have a millions to one firepower advantage [kuro5hin.org], as they do here in the good ol' United States.
In other DMCA news... (Score:5, Interesting)
There were two threads discussing next week's black friday (day after thanksgiving) sales at walmart [fatwallet.com] and target [fatwallet.com]. Since these sales haven't been advertised yet, apparently the companies thought discussing them violated the DMCA.
In other news (Score:4, Funny)
OT: related links (Score:2, Interesting)
not this one. it's a link for an advertisement, but quite well hidden right in there with the cotent.
sneaky slashdot. very sneaky. are we going to see these text ads inserted in the middle of our story submissions or comments soon? keywording story topcis are we?
Re:OT: related links (Score:2)
Need to Look at *All* Users (Score:5, Funny)
As you can see, the actual results are all over the map. Focusing only on Apple users gives you a biased view of the issue.
Skewed Summary (Score:2, Insightful)
Read the source folks.
just don't let the switch campaign catch wind... (Score:2, Funny)
Mirror (Score:3, Informative)
Why the copyright cartels have the advantage... (Score:5, Insightful)
Knowing this, they happily accept money from the cartels, because money does help win elections. Outside of their own internal ethics on the matter, what possible reason would a politican have to ever go against the copyright cartels on legislation?
Right now there is a bill being put before congress to take some of the nastiness out of the DMCA. Is this going to get passed? No. It's a noble effort, and I applaud it, but the copyright cartel likes things the way they are and will write nice checks to make sure that it stays that way.
We have two hopes for salvaging copyright going forward. The first is that finally the general public will realize what's happening and make this an issue. This likelyhood seems small because most people see copyright as a really minor issue in the grand scheme of things (and they may very well be right on that matter).
The second hope is that this can be battled on constitutional grounds in the courts, but this seems a dim hope too. I have my fingers crossed about the Eldridge case, but beyond that, fighting in the courts becomes a very defensive situation. We end up with copyright law that's not AS bad, but we don't end up with something that's actually good.
Yes, and... (Score:4, Insightful)
As an aside, another effect of the CSS contracts is also to move the entire issue from the world of copyright law, where there is at least some presumption of needing to benefit the public, into the world of contract law, which doesn't give a damn about the public good. If this continues to the logical extreme, the concept of copyright, and unauthorized access to any content, could be locked up forever in simple contracts that lie underneath a trusted system's technologies, all backed up by the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions.
This is not an aside, this is the point of the exercise. If you imagine the cartel is not thinking on this level you didn't have your wheaties this morning.
Re:Why the copyright cartels have the advantage... (Score:3)
The hypocrisy is staggering. All the people who post comments on
Look, if you are a tech person, it's your responsibility to do something to stand up for technology issues. It's not the responsibility of your neighbor who thinks you are a criminal if you refer to yourself as a "hacker".
Bad for Apple users? (Score:2)
What a silly and redundant premise - I think everyone opposed to the DMCA is fully aware of the fact it's bad for everyone, not just Apple users..
this is /good/ for Apple (Score:2, Insightful)
So what if Apple hardware/software doesn't support DRM? This can possible increase sales for Apple.
Right now everyone is using PCs because they have good performance and they're cheap. But if all PCs have DRM/Palladium/etc. and you don't want that, where will you go? Apple (and Sun, Alpha if still around).
It becomes a choice of losing your rights, or going to another hardware platform. I for one wouldn't mind have a PowerPC (overpriced though they are). Of course you could simply have a PC but run an OS (Linux, *BSD?) that doesn't support all that DRM crud and live outside of the "controlled" world. Which I, for one, wouldn't mind doing.
Email, web, Ogg Vorbis and StarOffice (LaTeX for me). What else do you really need? (Well maybe "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" (now under FreeBSD!).)
Re:this is /good/ for Apple (Score:3, Interesting)
It's not hard to see how non-mainstream platforms (Linux & *BSD are in the same boat with MacOS here) will be increasingly marginalized as viable consumer choices once you can no longer play any new CDs (already happening [wired.com]) DVDs (coming [cnn.com]) or other new content on them.
Apple has taken the popular stance of leaving it up to the consumer to use digital content legally (see Apple Stands Firm Agaist Cartel [siliconvalley.com]). This might increase sales for them somewhat amongst DMCA-conscious purists on Slashdot, but how many normal consumers would purchase a 'digital hub' that cannot read any of their digital content? If the Content Cartel gets their way, Apple will have no choice but to eventually adopt DMCA-compliant DRM schemes à la Palladium or go quietly into the long night.
Apple's Think different Text (Score:2)
--
Here's to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They're not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them,
disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can't do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They invent. They imagine. They heal.
They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.
Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that's never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
We make tools for these kinds of people.
While some see them as the crazy ones,
we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world, are the ones who do.
--
Just beautiful . Now, if the rest of the industry could share in this, it would be great.
Re:Apple's Think different Text (Score:2)
Thats marketing drivel. Aside from the some cool things Apple does (like this maybe, Apple is a huge ass company that does the same evil shit other huge ass companies do.
Look at all the websites they have harrassed.
And here is a lil bit of irony since you brought up "Think Different". Didnt they use the Dalai Lama as one of the images?
How many parts of an Apple computer are made in China. I count quite a few of the lil plastic widgets coming from China.
A lot of labor in China comes from Gulags, prisons. And many of the laborers are Tibetans, monks or nuns, that have been imprisoned for being a buddhist.
Or maybe your widgets were made by Tienamen square organziers (tho most of those folks were probably killed).
Isnt it ironic that Apples "Think Different" ad would really sum up what went down in China those days.
I am not saying dont buy your computer cos it has stuff from China in it. You'd be hard pressed to find much *not* from China these days. What I am saying is dont believe the market banter. Apple is not cool, no way no how, no matter how much they hide behind images of cool creative revolutionary people. They paid someone to come up with that idea. Shitloads of money.
Remember the words of Gil Scott Heron: The revolution will not be televised.
In this case: Advertised.
Re:Apple's Think different Text (Score:2)
If you're gonna play the game at all, that's when it becomes interesting to see HOW you play it.
That campaign of theirs is good. It's effective despite having a strange premise that's hard to 'sell' to Joe Sixpack, and to the extent that people 'buy' it, it STRENGTHENS popular support for PEOPLE LIKE US. Would you rather they did TV ads with iMacs producing guns and blowing away scarey hackers?
Can you picture Dubya Bush running campaigns that say 'here's to the rebels, that's the kind of people who wrote the Constitution and fought to liberate this great country of ours'?
Take advantage of the useful spin you DO get, rather than griping about its source and sincerity. It's like politics- you gotta have some idealism but if you don't have any pragmatism as well, you're hosed.
Here's to Apple, which is still able to 'sell' the concept of freedom. May they always continue to do so.
DMCA's Power (Score:2, Insightful)
The answer falls into two catagories:
Create a substancial work and distribute it through your own channels. Create your own media network. Go out and create the PR channels. If you decide to go this route please do yourself a favor, keep your day job.
The second solution is more managable by us geeks. We don't put up with it. Who works at Best Buy? Who is the company computer guy that gets all of the computer questions? Who comes up with the technology that the rest of us try to illegally circumvent? Geeks. It is us. All we need to do is explain to consumers that DVD2 with super-CSS is a bad thing.
Then point them to the EFF and any of the anti-DMCA web sites.
In the movie "A Bugs Life" we were taught that a bunch of ants can destroy even the toughest bugs, no matter how tough they are.
--Chris Turvey
I say KUDOS to Apple (Score:2)
Hypocricy of uncle sam (Score:2, Funny)
But People dont violate copyrights. Computers violate copyrights.
Your PC is a Playstation- contract law (Score:2, Interesting)
So the pessimistic view is that the cabal of media companies, PC makers, and Microsoft are working toward this tightly closed platform (palladium anyone?) that is impervious to hackers or anyone who hasn't bought in. The same might apply to office suites, etc. In other words, you're lucky if your hardware will run anything other than what MS/RIAA/MPA have pre-certified. Presto, your PC is a PlayStation.
Have a nice day...
It hurts their own hardware (Score:2, Informative)
wake-up call for Apple users??? (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, current trends and schemes are bad for Apple users in that Apple has been railing against the methods championed by DMCA supporters. But it's bad for everyone [in its current state]. PC users are "OK" because M$ will strip them of any rights right under their noses and lock them into whatever scheme they get paid the most to support.
Wake up EVERYone. Not just Apple users.
Application of copyright law... (Score:4, Insightful)
I can't for the life of me remember where this quote came from, but it's true. If they start going after every kid with some mp3s of his favourite band instead of concentrating on those with 50GB music, film, pr0n
It's a shame that it will take things like that to initiate the public backlash, but rest assured, it will happen.
We can only hope that it starts before it's too late.
Re:Proof positive (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Proof positive (Score:4, Interesting)
Umm... The link you posted seems to suggest otherwise. Just look at the pictures [wired.com]. The fact that you appeared to have missed this seems to suggest that YOU are not a straight man.
Re:money means power (Score:5, Interesting)
I have severe issues with the current incarnation of the DMCA. It's broken, it can go after that most sancrosanct of creatures, the software engineer, and it gives ridiculously strong legal protections. It's also way to abusable for things that it wasn't intended to cover, like MS using it to keep (non content-related) protocols closed. Having the government, which I pay money to, enforce laws that prevent me from writing software is objectionable to me.
OTOH, I think that DRM is a great idea. Fun, even. The satellite TV wars are, I think, one of the neatest things going. The company engineers manage to make it annoying enough that your average Joe is willing to just pay for his TV. Hackers are having a fun time competing with the engineers. It's a technical war at its finest. If the company engineers eventually come out on top, more power to them. They fought the good fight and won. Just as I support not artifically restricting the rights of someone to write copy protection bypassing software, I support the right of the TV engineers to write whatever protection software they want. This has always been the case, ranging from the days of colored watermarks to screw up Xeroxing to now.
But, you might think, digital copy protection is harder to get by than analog copy protection? Tough. It's also much easier to *copy* digital information en masse than it is to Xerox something a thousand times.
I'd like the DMCA gone, but that doesn't mean that DRM should go away.
Re:money means power (Score:2, Insightful)
But if the content protection is effective, then these companies don't need any legal help.
Therefore we don't need the DMCA.
Q.E.D.
Re:money means power (Score:2)
Re:money means power (Score:3, Insightful)
Nooo. . . the answer is clear: (Score:2)
As long as there is rock and roll, we're okay.
Voting with money does not work (Score:5, Insightful)
Thought so.
Consumers cannot vote with their money because the elections are rigged by false advertising. How many people, for instance, know about the effects of DRM and DMCA? How many of those few know that those laws are, in fact, bad for the customer? Ironically the coming DMCA of the European Union is named and openly hyped as a "consumers' right bill". Yeah, it's about consumers' rights alright. Taking them away, that is.
Not An Important Issue for Majority (Score:5, Insightful)
The DMCA and DRM are not mainstream political issues and, most likely, will never be mainstream. That is, elections will not be decided by candidates' stance on this single issue. It just isn't that important to most people.Before someone launches a derogatory rant about the "stupidity" of the American voter, ask yourself why someone with two kids and a mortgage should worry more about copying CD's than about taxes, schools, roads, police protection, etc.
Re:Not An Important Issue for Majority (Score:2)
If music downloads even simply remain steady, but music sales fall due to protesting, all that will happen is the RIAA will come forward with more numbers that show downloads outwieghing sales and demending more protection.
Re:Voting with money does not work (Score:2)
-72
Re:Voting with money does not work (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Voting with money does not work (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Voting with money does not work (Score:2)
Umm
Oh come the fuck on. (Score:2)
Re:money means power (Score:2)
Re:poor apple users will have to wake up (Score:2)
Oh, is that what that stench is?
Re:Apple users will have to stand up (Score:2)
How many tyrants have worked to suppress art? Everyone else needs to wake up and realize that our freedoms are being taken away in the name of "Homeland Security" and other names they give to laws made to sound patriotic or high-minded.
Resist and disobey the corporatist in Washington.
The GOAL (Score:2)
September 21, 2006 - (AP) NEW YORK
What has been brewing for several years has finally come to pass: the last of the old, "brick and mortar" record companies has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. At a press conference at 09:00 AM this morning, Mark Thompson, Chief Operating Officer of BMG America, announced the decision to seek protection as the record giant reorganizes.
"The failure of our government to offer us adequate protection against the ravages of rampant piracy have driven us to this unfortunate decision," he said.
This comes as no surprise to many industry watchers. Word has been circulating on The Street that BMG has been seeking a buyer for the past six months. Over the fiscal year the stock has fallen to a low of $1.17, prompting rumors of a possible buy by cigarette giant Philip Morris. However, the recent downgrade to "strong sell" by Goldman Sachs last month, it is widely thought, nixed the deal.
Consumers may not be sad to see the media giant go. Shelly MacPherson, chairperson of Parents Against Trash in Our Culture, waxed jubilant. "It's about time," she said. "Look at the kind of music they've been pushing for the last decade. Maybe the people there don't have kids, but some of us actually care about our childen. We want them to have a good upbringing as responsible members of society. How are we supposed to do that with the kind of garbage they kept inundating us with?"
In related news, Internet distributor BeSonic, Ltd. reported record Q2 sales, up 12% to $46M. Other "independent" distributors have reported similar gains, as they continue to lead the charge in the market's recovery. When asked about the news, Ian Frederick, CEO of BeSonic, answered, "Piracy? Hardly. Simply put, they pigeonholed themselves, and turned everyone off. People want choice, in their music, and in the way they use it. Not everyone in the world lives in the Upper East Side nor listens to the same kind of music. They certainly won't buy new equipment just to keep a particular company in business. You have to be flexible in the 21st century, or people will drop you for a competitor in a heartbeat."
- Yes, this is fiction, of course (and if your name matches any of those above, then GET A LIFE and realize it's accidental)
Re:This is just stupid (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Down ALREADY? (Score:3, Insightful)
It doesn't surprise me at all that it would go down fast under a vigorous slashdotting, but not because it's run on Macs but because it's run about Macs.
Servers cost money. So anyone building a website will try to use the minimum server power they can get away with. Microsoft will run massive banks of servers because they expect lots of people to connect to them for security patches, bug fixes, security patches, product information, bug fixes, technical support, and security patches.
So here's TidBITS, a site run for the Apple community (which is admittedly small), which only expects traffic from those people who use and appreciate Apples. So they run it on just a few machines. They normally only need one or two.
But then they posted a general interest story, someone told Slashdot about it, and boom! Instant DoS Attack! Find me a one-machine server that has that kind of instant scalability, and I'll buy one.
Re:DMCA vs. DeCSS (Score:5, Informative)