5 ms·

There is no such thing as popular demand, only what major web companies think will benefit their bottom line. They just supply what they want to supply and inve

by kijin 10y ago

There is no such thing as popular demand, only what major web companies think will benefit their bottom line. They just supply what they want to supply and invent demand to justify it post facto. Nobody outside of the MAFIAA demanded a flickering, crashy, proprietary DRM module for the web. But since that's what Google can supply at this time, they would like all of us to pretend that there's some sort of popular demand for it. All these players add so many layers of deliberately misleading interpretation and assumptions on top of what ordinary users might actually want, it's impossible to figure out which "demands" are authentic and which ones are mere illusions anymore.

Silhouette 10y ago
The popular demand isn't for DRM, it's for being able to watch movies and TV shows through online streaming instead of going out to the cinema or waiting for something to be on TV. The people making those movies and TV shows are only willing to let services put them online if those services offer certain safeguards to prevent flagrant abuse. Hence, we get DRM in online streaming systems. People who object for some reason can either disable it or use a different browser, but the price is that they don't get to stream the content. Meanwhile, most people don't know or care what DRM is or how it works, as long as they can binge-watch their favourite drama or enjoy a new movie with their family on a Saturday night.
- Dylan16807 10y ago
  >certain safeguards to prevent flagrant abuse Except it doesn't do that at all.
  - Silhouette 10y ago
    Of course it does. DRM obviously doesn't prevent every abuse, but the idea that a modern DRM system doesn't prevent any casual copying at all is as absurd as the idea that every copy is a lost sale when calculating damages.
    - fpig 10y ago
      Casual copying has become pretty much irrelevant, though. This isn't the 90s any more; now one person releases a torrent and thousands of people end up downloading it. When was the last time you copied some media or a piece of software from someone, even for things with no copy protection that are legal to copy? I don't even bother to copy stuff between my own computers, instead I just download it again... To prevent piracy you'd need to stop the people who are experts at breaking copy protection (which has been a spectacular failure so far) because everyone else is just downloading their stuff and completely avoiding copy protection.
      - Silhouette 10y ago
        Casual copying has become pretty much irrelevant, though. This misconception seems to fuel a lot of the anti-DRM arguments, but I'm afraid it's a misconception all the same. For one thing, modern online and hardware-based copy protection systems can actually be quite effective. Contrary to popular wisdom among geeks, they don't all get cracked automatically within five minutes. Illegal rips of films or TV shows mostly originate from other sources, not the online streaming services. As for software, take a look at what is actually being copied in terms of, say, the latest games. If the copy protection even takes a few days to crack, for a new AAA title that is going to be the big thing for a month or two, that could be a huge win for the publisher. Remember, we're talking about a target market who are irrational enough to pre-order big name titles, even though there is little if anything in it for them to commit their money before the game is even finished or reviewed. As far as these people are concerned, they must have their new shiny on day one or the world will end, and if they can't get it with a quick crack, a lot of them are going to pay for it. Another factor that is often overlooked is that most creative content isn't Hollywood blockbusters or AAA games. A lot of creative content is aimed at much smaller, niche markets. There's far less incentive for crackers to spend a lot of time breaking any protections on that content, but the damage done through infringement can be worse because a lot of this stuff is created by individuals or small teams and usually it isn't super-profitable in the first place. A second factor that often gets overlooked is that a lot of people simply don't realise when copying and sharing content is not permitted or legal. Most people aren't computer experts or IP lawyers. If you don't provide some sort of technical barrier, even if it's just a token effort that makes it clear that they're doing something they shouldn't be, plenty of people will copy and share and not even realise they're doing anything wrong. I've even seen messages sent to some of my businesses from people who literally told us (after being kicked for blatantly violating our terms) that if we didn't want that to happen we shouldn't offer content in the standard, DRM-free formats. To prevent piracy... Most of the time, trying to prevent 100% of piracy is a futile gesture. But like any other form of security in technology, it's a sliding scale, and some is still better than none.
- blep-arsh 10y ago
  I know a lot of people who don't know or care about DRM - just because both Netflix and Amazon aren't really available here (Netflix has maybe 10% of titles, not even House of Cards). However, all these people can and do binge-watch their favorite shows and movies by visiting certain websies that offer convenient HTML5 players, unencrypted downloads and apps for mobile devices and TV boxes. Region-locked content that requires special decoders and hardware still has to compete with relentless piracy.

by kijin 10y ago

Silhouette 10y ago

The popular demand isn't for DRM, it's for being able to watch movies and TV shows through online streaming instead of going out to the cinema or waiting for something to be on TV. The people making those movies and TV shows are only willing to let services put them online if those services offer certain safeguards to prevent flagrant abuse. Hence, we get DRM in online streaming systems. People who object for some reason can either disable it or use a different browser, but the price is that they don't get to stream the content. Meanwhile, most people don't know or care what DRM is or how it works, as long as they can binge-watch their favourite drama or enjoy a new movie with their family on a Saturday night.

Dylan16807 10y ago
>certain safeguards to prevent flagrant abuse Except it doesn't do that at all.
- Silhouette 10y ago
  Of course it does. DRM obviously doesn't prevent every abuse, but the idea that a modern DRM system doesn't prevent any casual copying at all is as absurd as the idea that every copy is a lost sale when calculating damages.
  - fpig 10y ago
    Casual copying has become pretty much irrelevant, though. This isn't the 90s any more; now one person releases a torrent and thousands of people end up downloading it. When was the last time you copied some media or a piece of software from someone, even for things with no copy protection that are legal to copy? I don't even bother to copy stuff between my own computers, instead I just download it again... To prevent piracy you'd need to stop the people who are experts at breaking copy protection (which has been a spectacular failure so far) because everyone else is just downloading their stuff and completely avoiding copy protection.
    - Silhouette 10y ago
      Casual copying has become pretty much irrelevant, though. This misconception seems to fuel a lot of the anti-DRM arguments, but I'm afraid it's a misconception all the same. For one thing, modern online and hardware-based copy protection systems can actually be quite effective. Contrary to popular wisdom among geeks, they don't all get cracked automatically within five minutes. Illegal rips of films or TV shows mostly originate from other sources, not the online streaming services. As for software, take a look at what is actually being copied in terms of, say, the latest games. If the copy protection even takes a few days to crack, for a new AAA title that is going to be the big thing for a month or two, that could be a huge win for the publisher. Remember, we're talking about a target market who are irrational enough to pre-order big name titles, even though there is little if anything in it for them to commit their money before the game is even finished or reviewed. As far as these people are concerned, they must have their new shiny on day one or the world will end, and if they can't get it with a quick crack, a lot of them are going to pay for it. Another factor that is often overlooked is that most creative content isn't Hollywood blockbusters or AAA games. A lot of creative content is aimed at much smaller, niche markets. There's far less incentive for crackers to spend a lot of time breaking any protections on that content, but the damage done through infringement can be worse because a lot of this stuff is created by individuals or small teams and usually it isn't super-profitable in the first place. A second factor that often gets overlooked is that a lot of people simply don't realise when copying and sharing content is not permitted or legal. Most people aren't computer experts or IP lawyers. If you don't provide some sort of technical barrier, even if it's just a token effort that makes it clear that they're doing something they shouldn't be, plenty of people will copy and share and not even realise they're doing anything wrong. I've even seen messages sent to some of my businesses from people who literally told us (after being kicked for blatantly violating our terms) that if we didn't want that to happen we shouldn't offer content in the standard, DRM-free formats. To prevent piracy... Most of the time, trying to prevent 100% of piracy is a futile gesture. But like any other form of security in technology, it's a sliding scale, and some is still better than none.
blep-arsh 10y ago
I know a lot of people who don't know or care about DRM - just because both Netflix and Amazon aren't really available here (Netflix has maybe 10% of titles, not even House of Cards). However, all these people can and do binge-watch their favorite shows and movies by visiting certain websies that offer convenient HTML5 players, unencrypted downloads and apps for mobile devices and TV boxes. Region-locked content that requires special decoders and hardware still has to compete with relentless piracy.