Cory Doctorow on Digital Rights Management

VerdeRana writes "I just heard the EFF's Cory Doctorow give this fantastic argument critiquing DRM. He makes a great case for why DRM is bad for society, business, and artists, why it simply don't work, and why Microsoft (the audience for this talk) should not invest in it. Broadcast this far and wide, and maybe someone will listen."

Re:Brad Pitt ???

[Anonymous Coward]

Erm... Brad Pitt was supposed to be a Greek, not a Geek nor a Roman.

Not Brad Pitt the actor, you goofball. Brad Pitt the famous Gaul tribal leader of 96-50 BC.

My favorite quote:

[Anonymous Coward]

"DRM turns computers against their owners. I don't want a Disney security guard sitting in my living room watching my every move." -- Ian Clarke

Re:Brad Pitt ???

[AllUsernamesAreGone]

Can't be Gaulish, otherwise he'd be called Bradpittix. According to the suffixes used in Asterix [openscroll.org] he'd have to be an Indian.

Flo-Bee as a technological breakthrough

[zymurgy_cat]

I do believe that's the first argument I've ever heard that uses the Flo-Bee as an analogy for high tech.

Re:Why DRM will work

[lachlan76]

I'm a 14-year-old nerd who can burn cds for 14-year-old chicks. How does DRM help then? The worst it can do is wreck my life by letting people find out that I have their cds on me, and they'd think that I like that band. But how does that stop the copying?

In order stop copying of cds, we must lower the nerd to cd and the nerd to non-nerd ratio to 1/10000 and 1/500. Any more nerds, and DRM will be useless.

Why DRM Won't Work (A Simpler Explanation)

[ArbiterOne]

Here's a better explanation for non-geeks. [userfriendly.org]

So really you're saying it won't change anything?!

[hajihill]

So what you're really saying is that DRM will destroy the music industry, not directly, but due to an inevitable breakdown in the quality of music... As these steps won't prevent any but the least educated, lowest common denominator listeners from actually purchasing the music more than a few times...

Thereby pushing indie furtherer in the direction of indie and pop more in the direction of pop...

Or, wait.... So really you're saying it won't change anything?!?

Re:Strange..

[Secrity]

If you have ever driven an old Buick and observed the momentum of MS you would know that his anology is reasonably accurate. One possible nit is that technically you would not be driving the engine block back into the driver's compartment, you would be wrapping the driver's compartment around the engine.

Far and Wide

[silvaran]

Broadcast this far and wide, and maybe someone will listen.

I did, but because of my DRM, no one can hear it.

Talk to the hand!

[Anonymous Writer]

He makes a great case for why DRM is bad for society, business, and artists, why it simply don't work, and why Microsoft (the audience for this talk) should not invest in it.

He's going to talk to Microsoft about this? He might as well go talk to a wall.

Re:Brad Pitt ???

[mr fog]

Oh for goodness sake, can't you tell he was joking?
in reply to
> Oh for goodness sake, can't you tell he was joking?
> in reply to
>> Oh for goodness sake, can't you tell he was joking?
>> in reply to
>>> Oh for goodness sake, can't you tell he was joking?
>>> in reply to
>>>> ... ad infinitum

Re:Why DRM Won't Work (A Simpler Explanation)

[jc42]

Very good. And here's a related Doonesbury [ucomics.com] Sunday cartoon from back in '89 that you might want to bookmark (or copy ;-).

short version:

[perlchild]

RIAA: I own the content but you may use it
User: If I pay you I own my copy, that's not negotiable.
RIAA: Ownership is not something we're willing to give you.
User: Well my money is not something I'm willing to give you, let's see how much content you can produce without an audience.
RIAA: Government, User is using unfair negotiating tactics.
User: Unfair? BAH! You're paid to encourage you to produce content. It's not a need, it's a want, but you need MY money. You will give me what I want, or you will get no money.
Government: IANAL but I will ask counsel.
Counsel: User is quoting straight from the history of copyright, the law says he's right, until we can change the law, no matter how much RIAA pays.

DRM negotiation in a perfect world, except if you're the RIAA