The Real Purpose of DRM 213
Jeremy Allison - Sam writes "Ian Hickson, author and maintainer of the HTML5 specification, comments about the real reasons for DRM. They're not what you might think. Ian nails it in my opinion. He wrote, 'The purpose of DRM is not to prevent copyright violations. The purpose of DRM is to give content providers leverage against creators of playback devices. Content providers have leverage against content distributors, because distributors can't legally distribute copyrighted content without the permission of the content's creators. But if that was the only leverage content producers had, what would happen is that users would obtain their content from those content distributors, and then use third-party content playback systems to read it, letting them do so in whatever manner they wanted. ... Arguing that DRM doesn't work is, it turns out, missing the point. DRM is working really well in the video and book space. Sure, the DRM systems have all been broken, but that doesn't matter to the DRM proponents. Licensed DVD players still enforce the restrictions. Mass market providers can't create unlicensed DVD players, so they remain a black or gray market curiosity."
But but piracy is good for media sales... (Score:2, Funny)
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/13/03/19/209213/study-piracy-doesnt-harm-digital-media-sales
I'm so confused. Goddamnit Slashdot.
Re:Today is officially "No shit Day!" (Score:5, Funny)
I was misled! I was told that DRM would help me to manage my rights. Is this no longer the case?
Re:As has been said, (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Today is officially "No shit Day!" (Score:5, Funny)
RIAA produces money for its members and lawyers. They also produce written works in the form of legislation.