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It's true that people are routing around existing DRM solutions. It's not true that this represents any threat to DRM. As the Steam platform has demonstrated, i
by cynicalkane 13y ago
It's true that people are routing around existing DRM solutions. It's not true that this represents any threat to DRM. As the Steam platform has demonstrated, if you make paying the easy solution and piracy the hard one, the target audience (viz. people willing to pay money) will choose the easy one.
The average consumer will not try to route around unfree information as long as it shows up when they click play. Policing content is not the sort of "market censorship" they care about.
- youngerdryas 13y agoExactly. If your time has no value then all is free. Most people value their time, the system does not have to be perfect. People who claim there should be no copyright because the future is inevitable probably still go to the doctor.
- jlgreco 13y ago"Copyright not existing" and "concessions to DRM not being included in standards" are wildly different things, as are "copyright not existing" and "DRM not existing". Ten years ago, would you tell people to go to the doctor if they asserted that the music industry could and would survive selling their music without DRM?
- youngerdryas 13y agoMaybe you misunderstood. The current model will die, like everything.
- shmerl 13y agoDRM model will die. But such proposals like this one with putting DRM into HTML standard will only prolong its lingering and it's another serious reason to oppose them.
- youngerdryas 13y agoI'm not so sure. DRM was the only way iTunes could get the record labels to play ball and they quickly realized the potential and gave it up.
- eridius 13y agoThe music industry has been selling music without DRM since recorded music was invented. I don't think there's any surprise that they survived by continuing to sell without DRM.
- shmerl 13y agoSame goes for everything else. DRM came to music and went away later. Same will happen to other content.
- jlgreco 13y ago9 years ago Sony was panicking, realizing what they had done, and began infecting users PCs with malware in a desperate attempt to undo the "harm" they thought the CDs lack of DRM was causing them. And of course the movie industry was surviving without DRM for some time too. Both thought that lossy analog copying was DRM enough.
- shmerl 13y agoAs the Steam platform has demonstrated, if you make paying the easy solution and piracy the hard one, the target audience (viz. people willing to pay money) will choose the easy one. Steam is still DRMed and can be annoying enough. Try to get Loom there to play on your Scummvm and good luck with that. I don't use Steam since I don't want to support DRMed approach. I use GOG and other DRM free distributors for gaming. If DRM isn't very obvious and disruptive it doesn't mean it's not there and it doesn't make it any more ethical than a hidden camera which you are unaware of. I'd say it's better when it's noticeable, at least you can be aware of its risks. > Policing content is not the sort of "market censorship" they care about. Tell them about it when their distributor will pull the plug and go out business, informing them that their DRMed content will be lost forever. I'm sure they'll appreciate the view that they shouldn't care about it in such situation. > It's not true that this represents any threat to DRM. You don't need to technically threaten something that's already broken. Most DRM is broken in short time. However DRM needs to be threatened on practical and legal levels. Practically by byocotting the DRMed content, and legally by repealing DMCA 1201 and similar laws created to back up DRM.
- mortenjorck 13y agoSteam has a unique market position, with an extremely loyal user base. The really interesting thought experiment I see is this: What if Steam quietly went DRM-free tomorrow? What would change? What wouldn't?
- shmerl 13y agoNetflix also has a big and arguably loyal user base, same goes for Xbox, PlayStation and other heavily DRMed platforms. Does it indicate that DRM approach is ethical or that simply many people are oblivious to its potential problems? As often, many ignore it until they are bitten. If that happens, people learn about DRM the hard way. About Steam going DRM free - I'd like that, and I'd subscribe to their service if they'd do it. But they are heavily involved with DRM addicted gaming companies, and unlike GOG don't put any effort into convincing them to publish their games DRM free. GOG invests a lot of time and effort to do it. For Steam it would either mean an enormous amount of reworking their contracts, or simply cutting off a significant part of their catalog. They aren't as principled as GOG to do that.
- roc 13y agoAnd as iTunes and Amazon Music have demonstrated, if you make paying the easy solution, having DRM is either irrelevant or a net negative.