Surefire Way To Stifle Innovation

denissmith writes "C|NET has a very funny piece by Patrick Ross, where he pooh-pooh's Congressman Rick Boucher's (D-VA) efforts to protect Fair Use by claiming that it will stifle innovation." From the article: "If HR-1201 becomes law, every consumer could legally hack any TPM by claiming fair use, and as fair use isn't codified, there would be as many definitions of it as there are consumers. Consumers would be legally sanctioned to break their contracts with the content provider. No sane business operator enters a contract in which one party has the right to disregard its terms at will, but that's what HR-1201 permits. That hated TPM would disappear from the market, as there's no reason to employ a lock if everyone has a legal right to the key. But as TPM leaves, so do the digital offerings that come with it."

Surest Way To Stifle Innovation

[Anonymous Coward]

Use acronyms nobody knows.

Huh?

[Taevin]

This guy is for "Progress and Freedom"? From the article:

But when the content is delivered purely as digital bits, there is no limit to the range of TPM that can be applied. Content producers can also quickly change their options to meet market demand. What is a publisher to do when it finds out that it can't get students to buy e-textbooks when they expire after a mere four months? By changing one line of code, those four months can be expanded to a full year.

Wow! You mean if customers finally start complaining that their collective anus is bleeding, producers might let consumers hold on to their property for a little while longer?

I guess I just don't see how limiting people's rights to their purchased property is progress and it's certainly not freedom.

Television?

[EEBaum]

What about television? You recall that contract we all entered into that prohibits us from going to get a snack during commercials, don't you?

TPM would disappear??!!

[Captain Scurvy]

But I need TPM for my bunghole!

Re:Surest Way To Stifle Innovation

[Anonymous Coward]

Technology Prevention Mechanism. Is this supposed to do anything besides stifle innovation?

Re:Surest Way To Stifle Innovation

[johnkoer]

I see you have been pulling TLAs out of your ASS (Acronym Specification Sheet).

Wow. You got your ass kicked

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess you feel pretty dumb right about now.

Holy cow. I would delete that account and create a new one. This account already has the stench of "loser" all around it.

Re:Surest Way To Stifle Innovation

[Anonymous Coward]

TPM = The Phantom Menace

Rather apt description, given the article.

Re:The Amish

[arose]

The effects of the technology are looked at - if the people who use the technology start spending less time bonding with their families and communities, or other "social ills" start to come of the technology, then Amish leaders reject the technology, and those who use it are discouraged from doing so.

Amish introverts have my full sympathy.