7 ms·

Huh? DRM broke it's "promise"? What did DRM promise this guy. DRM made a promise to business that it would control content in ways that would let them extract

Huh? DRM broke it's "promise"? What did DRM promise this guy. DRM made a promise to business that it would control content in ways that would let them extract more money from users and make it much harder for them to copy or use the content outside of approved uses. DRM has lived up that promise and more. It's been so successfully lucrative this promise and similar systems of control may expand to ink, coffee, tractors, phones etc etc. Sounds like a promise kept.

kerkeslager 7y ago
> DRM made a promise to business that it would control content in ways that would let them extract more money from users and make it much harder for them to copy or use the content outside of approved uses. 1. If you think it's harder for users to copy or use content outside of approved usage, choose your favorite TV show, and type the name of the show with the text "s01e01" into Google. You'll find links to stream it in low quality or torrent a high quality MP4. 2. Meanwhile, try downloading a book from Amazon and transforming it into epub so you can read it on a different reader. If you manage to figure out how to do that, please let me know. It's not at all clear that the minor difficulty of 1 prevents so much lost profits that it outweighs the profits lost from 2. So it's absolutely not clear that DRM has resulted in extracting more money from users.
- pizza234 7y ago
  > 2. Meanwhile, try downloading a book from Amazon and transforming it into epub so you can read it on a different reader. If you manage to figure out how to do that, please let me know. Sure. Use Calibre's "DeDRM Tools" plugin, decrypting the book with your personal key, and you'll be able to convert it to any format.
  - AdmiralAsshat 7y ago
    Kinda. I just helped my girlfriend setup a new Windows laptop the other day, and the usual DeDRM tool no longer worked, because the books were downloaded under the most recent version of Kindle for PC, which uses some new form of encryption that hasn't been cracked yet. We had to uninstall it, download an older-but-still-supported version of Kindle for PC, then run through the process again. Which is to say, this is a cat-and-mouse game. There is a way to defeat Amazon's encryption for now, but there may come a day when we can't, and when Amazon cuts off support for all devices and applications that do not run their latest encryption. I'm kinda surprised that they continue to even support MOBI, given that it's not originally their format and much easier to extract the EPUB out of than their homespun solution.
    - jpindar 7y ago
      You need to download the files from "Manage Your Content and Devices","Actions", "Download & transfer via USB". This gives you a different format, and DeDRM can unlock these.
- froskur 7y ago
  Re no 2. I believe the Calibre plugin DeDRM does what you want. It's been a while since I used it, but iirc you will need to have a Kindle registered with the Amazon account you used to buy the book for it to work.
  - kerkeslager 7y ago
    I don't have a Kindle, so...
    - jpindar 7y ago
      There is a Kindle reader for the PC, you could try that.
- zchrykng 7y ago
  This tool allows removing the DRM from Kindle books. [1] This tool allows removing the DRM from Audible books. [2] [1]: https://apprenticealf.wordpress.com/2019/03/30/dedrm-tools-6-6-3-released/ https://apprenticealf.wordpress.com/2019/03/30/dedrm-tools-6... [2]: https://github.com/KrumpetPirate/AAXtoMP3 https://github.com/KrumpetPirate/AAXtoMP3
- paulddraper 7y ago
  > It's not at all clear that the minor difficulty of 1 You're gonna be ad-blasted, have inconsistent video quality, and be given a million popups. Also, the availability is not nearly what you think it is. https://www.google.com/search?q=battlestar+galactica+2003+s01e01 https://www.google.com/search?q=battlestar+galactica+2003+s0...
  - qes 7y ago
    https://i.imgur.com/RFasK8b.jpg https://i.imgur.com/RFasK8b.jpg 30 seconds and I can be quite sure there are no ads, malware, popups, and impeccable video quality. They're all still being seeded with enough bandwidth to max my 100+ Mbps cable connection, too.
  - kerkeslager 7y ago
    > You're gonna be ad-blasted, have inconsistent video quality, and be given a million popups. If you're seeing ads and popups, you should get an ad-blocker and update it. No one should be seeing these in 2019. The quality I noted, but I also noted that you can torrent higher-quality video easily. > Also, the availability is not nearly what you think it is. > https://www.google.com/search?q=battlestar+galactica+2003+s0.. https://www.google.com/search?q=battlestar+galactica+2003+s0.... I clicked your link. Second page of results, first result, was a link to DailyMotion where the full 54-minute episode was available to stream in quality as good as it was in 2003. I suspect the fact that this shows up on the second page of search results instead of the first is a success of DMCA threats against Google, not a success of DRM. But I'm sure if you added some combination of keywords like "torrent", "stream" or "free" you could get an illegal copy to show up as the first result. I'm not encouraging anyone to do this. I encourage everyone to pay for content with money, preferably in the most direct way you can so the creators actually get the money. I'm just saying that DRM only affects people who want to do things the "proper" way. People who don't want to pay for content can easily bypass DRM with a Google search.
- dredmorbius 7y ago
  Unpacking digital book formats is pretty straightforward with Calibre and similar tools. There is a very large number of freely-available books through Library Genesis and other sites, approaching 5 million. Some are newer, but I find this most useful for turning up old and hard-to-find books, generally published between 1925 and 2000. More recent books are frequently available in ripped digital formats. Earlier can be found through the Internet Archive, WikiSource, and Project Gutenberg. A large number of the scanned-in books are actually very likely out of copyright due to failures to renew registration, but the fact cannot readily be determined. There's a project that's taken machine-readable US Copyright Office records to find such works. The Internet Archive don't yet make use of this though per an email discussion a week or so back, that's in the works, though no announcement or dates have yet been made. What's tremendously frustrating to me is the HathiTrust archive, which has access to scanned copies of library works, but won't make these generally available to either the general public or anything outside a small set of research libraries (your local public library, or even community college or small liberal arts school doesn't qualify). Again, frequently works that are out of copyright (known-public-domain works cannot be viewed or downloaded), hoarded for no reason.
  - kerkeslager 7y ago
    > Unpacking digital book formats is pretty straightforward with Calibre and similar tools. It wasn't the last time I tried it, but I'd be happy to hear if this has changed. I don't own a Kindle, which some people are saying is required for the Calibre method, which might have been the issue I had in the past.
    - dredmorbius 7y ago
      That's a fair caution. Calibre used to work well with Kindle formats, though I've heard of issues more recently. I do a lot of dump-to-markdown then re-tag to preferred formats, largely using Pandoc. That's more intensive, but highly effective.
      - jpindar 7y ago
        It works for me. What you do is download the Kindle file format from "Manage Your Content and Devices","Actions", "Download & transfer via USB". This gives you a different format than the files sent directly to a Kindle, and the DeDRM plugin for Calibre unlocks these.
TremendousJudge 7y ago
The point of the article is that this argument wasn't what the corporate backers were saying back then -- although of course, it was their true motive, as the article points out as well.
johnfactorial 7y ago
> What did DRM promise this guy From the article: > Thanks to a technology called “Digital Rights Management,” sellers and buyers could negotiate a subset of rights and a reduced payment for same... In other words, we were told that we must reject the promise of unfettered digital in favor of locked-down digital, and in return, we would enter a vibrant marketplace where sellers offered exactly the uses we needed, at a price that was reduced to reflect the fact that we were getting a limited product. We got the limited product, all right – just not the discount.
- degenerate 7y ago
  > "at a price that was reduced to reflect the fact that we were getting a limited product" I've never in my life expected, or witnessed, a company to reduce prices once they had a stronghold on a market. To assume this would be different with DRM or other consumer-limiting tech is idiotic.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - JohnFen 7y ago
    It wasn't an assumption -- it was (among other things) literally part of the sales pitch when trying to get the public on board with DRM. So yes, it's a broken promise.
    - privateSFacct 7y ago
      The promises DCP LLC makes are very carefully laid out in the HDCP License Agreement and related documents. They primarily target content producers, not consumers. Here is their mission for clarity. "Digital Content Protection LLC (DCP) is an organization that licenses technologies for protecting premium commercial entertainment content." There is not a single word about protecting consumers in this. I would be interested in seeing an agreement anyone reached with any DRM licensing entity that was geared towards protecting consumers. The entire thrust of DRM was not to protect consumer rights, and every agreement these groups have come up with under which they undertake to promise various things is in line with that desire for control as far as I am aware. I'd love see a counter-example - and if we found one I would encourage using that scheme, but I am not aware of any. Apple and Amazon have both pushed in various ways for broader user rights which have paid off commercially (apple made digital music much more usable than earlier efforts and as a result I think that helped their success). Apple's music store (not Apple Music) also pushed relatively successfully for DRM free offerings. I'm not on HN enough to be as timely as I'd like - apologies for delay in response.
PhasmaFelis 7y ago
> Huh? DRM broke it's "promise"? What did DRM promise this guy. See paragraphs 5 and 6.
- privateSFacct 7y ago
  Those were not DCP LLC's promises. The promises DCP LLC makes are very carefully laid out in the HDCP License Agreement and related documents. They primarily target content producers, not consumers, and seek to assure them of a relatively robust control system that can be shown to prevent users from doing things the producers do not want. It's very clear - control over the content or bust. Enforcement is reasonable strict. Even to make HDCP components, to integrate components etc etc - all is carefully outlined. If you read these docs it will be CRYSTAL clear that the promise is not around preserving any user rights.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
dredmorbius 7y ago
The DRM industry (recording companies, RIAA, Macrovision) have been awfully scarce on public benefits of the technology, but there's a quote snippet from 2003: To make the new discs more palatable, Adam Sexton of Macrovision Corp., which makes copy-protection technology for music and movies, says they should be loaded with extras, such as live recordings or music videos. Consumers should expect to receive more when they put the disc into a computer, not less, said Sexton, a marketing vice president. https://web.archive.org/web/20030920055153/https://www.mcall.com/business/local/all-piracysep11,0,4349643.story?coll=all-businesslocal-hed https://web.archive.org/web/20030920055153/https://www.mcall... That's what I've come up with by digging into old mentions on sites, in HN discussions, and Google Books. Actual benefits discussion is very hard to find, and criticisms began quite early. The McCalls article was linked from TechDirt: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20030911/0217252.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20030911/0217252.shtml Update: There's also Macrovision's response to Steve Jobs, following Apple's decision to exclude DRM from the iPod (arguably a major factor in the latter's popularity, and path-paving for the iPhone): DRM increases not decreases consumer value -- I believe that most piracy occurs because the technology available today has not yet been widely deployed to make DRM-protected legitimate content as easily accessible and convenient as unprotected illegitimate content is to consumers. The solution is to accelerate the deployment of convenient DRM-protected distribution channels—not to abandon them. Without a reasonable, consistent and transparent DRM we will only delay consumers in receiving premium content in the home, in the way they want it. For example, DRM is uniquely suitable for metering usage rights, so that consumers who don't want to own content, such as a movie, can "rent" it. Similarly, consumers who want to consume content on only a single device can pay less than those who want to use it across all of their entertainment areas – vacation homes, cars, different devices and remotely. Abandoning DRM now will unnecessarily doom all consumers to a "one size fits all" situation that will increase costs for many of them. -- Frank Amaroso, Macrovision CEO (Excerpted from the longer source.) https://web.archive.org/web/20070306004546/macrovision.com/company/news/drm/response_letter.shtml https://web.archive.org/web/20070306004546/macrovision.com/c...
- dredmorbius 7y ago
  See also, from 2007: "DRM advocates getting nervous about consumer backlash" https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2007/09/drm-advocates-getting-nervous-about-consumer-backlash/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2007/09/drm-advocates-ge... At a conference convened by the overlords of DRM, Sony vice president Scott Smyers admits that he circumvents the copy protection on DVDs (CSS) in order to make backups for personal use. Apparently Mr. Smyers doesn't agree with Hollywood or the Register of Copyrights, both of which argue that "backups" can readily be had in the form of new copies you can buy at the store. The corporate hypocrisy is obvious: what the corporate parent demands (DRM that prevents DVD copying), even its own employee disregards. We can't blame him.
noonespecial 7y ago
"This guy" is prolific author Cory Doctorow. I suspect he's been made quite a few promises regarding DRM and distribution. I'm inclined to think he has some domain knowledge in this subject.
- privateSFacct 7y ago
  He needs to release these agreements or take legal action based on the agreements if they have been broken. I'm pointing out that the DRM chain is built on a very large set of very detailed promises between the parties involved. The existing promises are for the most part public and can be read by anyone. I'm not aware of ANY language requiring ANY type of meaningful pro-consumer behavior. The promises are all about SECURING content and control by content PRODUCERS.
rolph 7y ago
DRM gave people a reason to subvert protections, it went too far, taking away the element of random access that was enjoyed since.... I think ever since the printing press made personal edification available to the unwashed masses. DRM took that away and said you will consume on terms that make money above and beyond the original sale. All that DRM has done is make it difficult for normal people to consume, and created an aversion to the tech as most people are keenly aware of the loss of autonomous access to something.
ben7799 7y ago
Doctorow can come off as dramatic but he does it for good reason... if he wrote something without the drama we'd ignore him. The whole problem with DRM is everyone got used to it and has started to ignore how bad it can be... I include myself in the group of people who have gotten complacent. I'm good about not buying DRM music, but I put up with it with respect to streaming. And I have thousands of dollars at this pointed tied up in DRMed eBooks. At some points I've been good about stripping the DRM and making a backup but haven't done it in years now... got complacent, so it's good for him to make a big deal out of this. I'd definitely be super upset if some other companies pulled a microsoft and erased my DRM eBook library. Ironically I am pretty sure I have at least one of his books I bought from Amazon with DRM applied to it!
AnthonyMouse 7y ago
> DRM has lived up that promise and more. When the WIPO treaties were being lobbied for, Netflix didn't even exist, Amazon was a tiny internet bookstore that people made fun of and Apple was a slowly dying proprietary workstation company. The authors, TV networks and record companies who lobbied for the DMCA didn't do it so those companies could eat their lunch, but that's what happened. It turns out that a studio has a lot more negotiating leverage dealing with many competing retail stores than with a small number of big and powerful tech companies whose customers are locked into their platforms by DRM. It did what Sony and Paramount expected it to -- entrench the middle men -- only the old incumbents are not the middle men it entrenched. And if they would wise up to that and stop pretending they're the beneficiaries rather than additional unwitting victims, it would be a lot easier to undo this colossal screw up.

kerkeslager 7y ago

> DRM made a promise to business that it would control content in ways that would let them extract more money from users and make it much harder for them to copy or use the content outside of approved uses. 1. If you think it's harder for users to copy or use content outside of approved usage, choose your favorite TV show, and type the name of the show with the text "s01e01" into Google. You'll find links to stream it in low quality or torrent a high quality MP4. 2. Meanwhile, try downloading a book from Amazon and transforming it into epub so you can read it on a different reader. If you manage to figure out how to do that, please let me know. It's not at all clear that the minor difficulty of 1 prevents so much lost profits that it outweighs the profits lost from 2. So it's absolutely not clear that DRM has resulted in extracting more money from users.

pizza234 7y ago
> 2. Meanwhile, try downloading a book from Amazon and transforming it into epub so you can read it on a different reader. If you manage to figure out how to do that, please let me know. Sure. Use Calibre's "DeDRM Tools" plugin, decrypting the book with your personal key, and you'll be able to convert it to any format.
- AdmiralAsshat 7y ago
  Kinda. I just helped my girlfriend setup a new Windows laptop the other day, and the usual DeDRM tool no longer worked, because the books were downloaded under the most recent version of Kindle for PC, which uses some new form of encryption that hasn't been cracked yet. We had to uninstall it, download an older-but-still-supported version of Kindle for PC, then run through the process again. Which is to say, this is a cat-and-mouse game. There is a way to defeat Amazon's encryption for now, but there may come a day when we can't, and when Amazon cuts off support for all devices and applications that do not run their latest encryption. I'm kinda surprised that they continue to even support MOBI, given that it's not originally their format and much easier to extract the EPUB out of than their homespun solution.
  - jpindar 7y ago
    You need to download the files from "Manage Your Content and Devices","Actions", "Download & transfer via USB". This gives you a different format, and DeDRM can unlock these.
froskur 7y ago
Re no 2. I believe the Calibre plugin DeDRM does what you want. It's been a while since I used it, but iirc you will need to have a Kindle registered with the Amazon account you used to buy the book for it to work.
- kerkeslager 7y ago
  I don't have a Kindle, so...
  - jpindar 7y ago
    There is a Kindle reader for the PC, you could try that.
zchrykng 7y ago
This tool allows removing the DRM from Kindle books. [1] This tool allows removing the DRM from Audible books. [2] [1]: https://apprenticealf.wordpress.com/2019/03/30/dedrm-tools-6-6-3-released/ https://apprenticealf.wordpress.com/2019/03/30/dedrm-tools-6... [2]: https://github.com/KrumpetPirate/AAXtoMP3 https://github.com/KrumpetPirate/AAXtoMP3
paulddraper 7y ago
> It's not at all clear that the minor difficulty of 1 You're gonna be ad-blasted, have inconsistent video quality, and be given a million popups. Also, the availability is not nearly what you think it is. https://www.google.com/search?q=battlestar+galactica+2003+s01e01 https://www.google.com/search?q=battlestar+galactica+2003+s0...
- qes 7y ago
  https://i.imgur.com/RFasK8b.jpg https://i.imgur.com/RFasK8b.jpg 30 seconds and I can be quite sure there are no ads, malware, popups, and impeccable video quality. They're all still being seeded with enough bandwidth to max my 100+ Mbps cable connection, too.
- kerkeslager 7y ago
  > You're gonna be ad-blasted, have inconsistent video quality, and be given a million popups. If you're seeing ads and popups, you should get an ad-blocker and update it. No one should be seeing these in 2019. The quality I noted, but I also noted that you can torrent higher-quality video easily. > Also, the availability is not nearly what you think it is. > https://www.google.com/search?q=battlestar+galactica+2003+s0.. https://www.google.com/search?q=battlestar+galactica+2003+s0.... I clicked your link. Second page of results, first result, was a link to DailyMotion where the full 54-minute episode was available to stream in quality as good as it was in 2003. I suspect the fact that this shows up on the second page of search results instead of the first is a success of DMCA threats against Google, not a success of DRM. But I'm sure if you added some combination of keywords like "torrent", "stream" or "free" you could get an illegal copy to show up as the first result. I'm not encouraging anyone to do this. I encourage everyone to pay for content with money, preferably in the most direct way you can so the creators actually get the money. I'm just saying that DRM only affects people who want to do things the "proper" way. People who don't want to pay for content can easily bypass DRM with a Google search.
dredmorbius 7y ago
Unpacking digital book formats is pretty straightforward with Calibre and similar tools. There is a very large number of freely-available books through Library Genesis and other sites, approaching 5 million. Some are newer, but I find this most useful for turning up old and hard-to-find books, generally published between 1925 and 2000. More recent books are frequently available in ripped digital formats. Earlier can be found through the Internet Archive, WikiSource, and Project Gutenberg. A large number of the scanned-in books are actually very likely out of copyright due to failures to renew registration, but the fact cannot readily be determined. There's a project that's taken machine-readable US Copyright Office records to find such works. The Internet Archive don't yet make use of this though per an email discussion a week or so back, that's in the works, though no announcement or dates have yet been made. What's tremendously frustrating to me is the HathiTrust archive, which has access to scanned copies of library works, but won't make these generally available to either the general public or anything outside a small set of research libraries (your local public library, or even community college or small liberal arts school doesn't qualify). Again, frequently works that are out of copyright (known-public-domain works cannot be viewed or downloaded), hoarded for no reason.
- kerkeslager 7y ago
  > Unpacking digital book formats is pretty straightforward with Calibre and similar tools. It wasn't the last time I tried it, but I'd be happy to hear if this has changed. I don't own a Kindle, which some people are saying is required for the Calibre method, which might have been the issue I had in the past.
  - dredmorbius 7y ago
    That's a fair caution. Calibre used to work well with Kindle formats, though I've heard of issues more recently. I do a lot of dump-to-markdown then re-tag to preferred formats, largely using Pandoc. That's more intensive, but highly effective.
    - jpindar 7y ago
      It works for me. What you do is download the Kindle file format from "Manage Your Content and Devices","Actions", "Download & transfer via USB". This gives you a different format than the files sent directly to a Kindle, and the DeDRM plugin for Calibre unlocks these.

TremendousJudge 7y ago

The point of the article is that this argument wasn't what the corporate backers were saying back then -- although of course, it was their true motive, as the article points out as well.

johnfactorial 7y ago

> What did DRM promise this guy From the article: > Thanks to a technology called “Digital Rights Management,” sellers and buyers could negotiate a subset of rights and a reduced payment for same... In other words, we were told that we must reject the promise of unfettered digital in favor of locked-down digital, and in return, we would enter a vibrant marketplace where sellers offered exactly the uses we needed, at a price that was reduced to reflect the fact that we were getting a limited product. We got the limited product, all right – just not the discount.

degenerate 7y ago
> "at a price that was reduced to reflect the fact that we were getting a limited product" I've never in my life expected, or witnessed, a company to reduce prices once they had a stronghold on a market. To assume this would be different with DRM or other consumer-limiting tech is idiotic.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- JohnFen 7y ago
  It wasn't an assumption -- it was (among other things) literally part of the sales pitch when trying to get the public on board with DRM. So yes, it's a broken promise.
  - privateSFacct 7y ago
    The promises DCP LLC makes are very carefully laid out in the HDCP License Agreement and related documents. They primarily target content producers, not consumers. Here is their mission for clarity. "Digital Content Protection LLC (DCP) is an organization that licenses technologies for protecting premium commercial entertainment content." There is not a single word about protecting consumers in this. I would be interested in seeing an agreement anyone reached with any DRM licensing entity that was geared towards protecting consumers. The entire thrust of DRM was not to protect consumer rights, and every agreement these groups have come up with under which they undertake to promise various things is in line with that desire for control as far as I am aware. I'd love see a counter-example - and if we found one I would encourage using that scheme, but I am not aware of any. Apple and Amazon have both pushed in various ways for broader user rights which have paid off commercially (apple made digital music much more usable than earlier efforts and as a result I think that helped their success). Apple's music store (not Apple Music) also pushed relatively successfully for DRM free offerings. I'm not on HN enough to be as timely as I'd like - apologies for delay in response.

PhasmaFelis 7y ago

> Huh? DRM broke it's "promise"? What did DRM promise this guy. See paragraphs 5 and 6.

privateSFacct 7y ago
Those were not DCP LLC's promises. The promises DCP LLC makes are very carefully laid out in the HDCP License Agreement and related documents. They primarily target content producers, not consumers, and seek to assure them of a relatively robust control system that can be shown to prevent users from doing things the producers do not want. It's very clear - control over the content or bust. Enforcement is reasonable strict. Even to make HDCP components, to integrate components etc etc - all is carefully outlined. If you read these docs it will be CRYSTAL clear that the promise is not around preserving any user rights.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

dredmorbius 7y ago

The DRM industry (recording companies, RIAA, Macrovision) have been awfully scarce on public benefits of the technology, but there's a quote snippet from 2003: To make the new discs more palatable, Adam Sexton of Macrovision Corp., which makes copy-protection technology for music and movies, says they should be loaded with extras, such as live recordings or music videos. Consumers should expect to receive more when they put the disc into a computer, not less, said Sexton, a marketing vice president. https://web.archive.org/web/20030920055153/https://www.mcall.com/business/local/all-piracysep11,0,4349643.story?coll=all-businesslocal-hed https://web.archive.org/web/20030920055153/https://www.mcall... That's what I've come up with by digging into old mentions on sites, in HN discussions, and Google Books. Actual benefits discussion is very hard to find, and criticisms began quite early. The McCalls article was linked from TechDirt: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20030911/0217252.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20030911/0217252.shtml Update: There's also Macrovision's response to Steve Jobs, following Apple's decision to exclude DRM from the iPod (arguably a major factor in the latter's popularity, and path-paving for the iPhone): DRM increases not decreases consumer value -- I believe that most piracy occurs because the technology available today has not yet been widely deployed to make DRM-protected legitimate content as easily accessible and convenient as unprotected illegitimate content is to consumers. The solution is to accelerate the deployment of convenient DRM-protected distribution channels—not to abandon them. Without a reasonable, consistent and transparent DRM we will only delay consumers in receiving premium content in the home, in the way they want it. For example, DRM is uniquely suitable for metering usage rights, so that consumers who don't want to own content, such as a movie, can "rent" it. Similarly, consumers who want to consume content on only a single device can pay less than those who want to use it across all of their entertainment areas – vacation homes, cars, different devices and remotely. Abandoning DRM now will unnecessarily doom all consumers to a "one size fits all" situation that will increase costs for many of them. -- Frank Amaroso, Macrovision CEO (Excerpted from the longer source.) https://web.archive.org/web/20070306004546/macrovision.com/company/news/drm/response_letter.shtml https://web.archive.org/web/20070306004546/macrovision.com/c...

dredmorbius 7y ago
See also, from 2007: "DRM advocates getting nervous about consumer backlash" https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2007/09/drm-advocates-getting-nervous-about-consumer-backlash/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2007/09/drm-advocates-ge... At a conference convened by the overlords of DRM, Sony vice president Scott Smyers admits that he circumvents the copy protection on DVDs (CSS) in order to make backups for personal use. Apparently Mr. Smyers doesn't agree with Hollywood or the Register of Copyrights, both of which argue that "backups" can readily be had in the form of new copies you can buy at the store. The corporate hypocrisy is obvious: what the corporate parent demands (DRM that prevents DVD copying), even its own employee disregards. We can't blame him.

noonespecial 7y ago

"This guy" is prolific author Cory Doctorow. I suspect he's been made quite a few promises regarding DRM and distribution. I'm inclined to think he has some domain knowledge in this subject.

privateSFacct 7y ago
He needs to release these agreements or take legal action based on the agreements if they have been broken. I'm pointing out that the DRM chain is built on a very large set of very detailed promises between the parties involved. The existing promises are for the most part public and can be read by anyone. I'm not aware of ANY language requiring ANY type of meaningful pro-consumer behavior. The promises are all about SECURING content and control by content PRODUCERS.

rolph 7y ago

DRM gave people a reason to subvert protections, it went too far, taking away the element of random access that was enjoyed since.... I think ever since the printing press made personal edification available to the unwashed masses. DRM took that away and said you will consume on terms that make money above and beyond the original sale. All that DRM has done is make it difficult for normal people to consume, and created an aversion to the tech as most people are keenly aware of the loss of autonomous access to something.

ben7799 7y ago

Doctorow can come off as dramatic but he does it for good reason... if he wrote something without the drama we'd ignore him. The whole problem with DRM is everyone got used to it and has started to ignore how bad it can be... I include myself in the group of people who have gotten complacent. I'm good about not buying DRM music, but I put up with it with respect to streaming. And I have thousands of dollars at this pointed tied up in DRMed eBooks. At some points I've been good about stripping the DRM and making a backup but haven't done it in years now... got complacent, so it's good for him to make a big deal out of this. I'd definitely be super upset if some other companies pulled a microsoft and erased my DRM eBook library. Ironically I am pretty sure I have at least one of his books I bought from Amazon with DRM applied to it!

AnthonyMouse 7y ago

> DRM has lived up that promise and more. When the WIPO treaties were being lobbied for, Netflix didn't even exist, Amazon was a tiny internet bookstore that people made fun of and Apple was a slowly dying proprietary workstation company. The authors, TV networks and record companies who lobbied for the DMCA didn't do it so those companies could eat their lunch, but that's what happened. It turns out that a studio has a lot more negotiating leverage dealing with many competing retail stores than with a small number of big and powerful tech companies whose customers are locked into their platforms by DRM. It did what Sony and Paramount expected it to -- entrench the middle men -- only the old incumbents are not the middle men it entrenched. And if they would wise up to that and stop pretending they're the beneficiaries rather than additional unwitting victims, it would be a lot easier to undo this colossal screw up.