Day Against DRM

Defective by Design have decided October 3rd (my wife's birthday) is to be Day Against DRM .. erm .. day.

Just in case anyone wanted to take part

Personally I'd prefer the freedom to use my purchases in a fair way without being dictated to by MPAA and RIAA (via Apple and Microsoft) without being limited to x copies to y devices over z days/weeks/months.  At the end of the day I own my computer.

Better stop before I start ranting.

I could do Oct. 3rd, unless I have a new mouth to feed

In any case, are we going to storm the EU ? Burn MS, and Apple flags on parliament hill ?

Or is it just a day? What did you have in mind ?

I've never had a problem with DRM, I dont see what such the big deal is, no matter how many times people keep sending me links to anti-DRM sites.

Jason Cox wrote:

I've never had a problem with DRM, I dont see what such the big deal is, no matter how many times people keep sending me links to anti-DRM sites.

Agreed. There are solutions to break DRM encrypted files like FreeUse4WM and ofcourse by converting them to different formats or recording them in real time then saving them as seperate files.


Regards,
Vincent

Sony + Rootkit = DRM Off the rails

I can see both sides of the arguement, I haven't decided which side I'm on yet, so here is an opportunity to hear both points of view.

So go for it advocates!!!

Sourcecode wrote:

In any case, are we going to storm the EU ? Burn MS, and Apple flags on parliament hill ?

Or is it just a day? What did you have in mind ?

I was just planning to get drunk and see if anyone got arrested

Sabot wrote:

I can see both sides of the arguement, I haven't decided which side I'm on yet, so here is an opportunity to hear both points of view.

I've had my coffee so here's my view on DRM.


End Users

DRM is directly in conflict with my right to do whatever I like with my possessions.  Hard-drives fail, CDs scratch and I am not allowed to make backup copies of DVDs I but? I am limited in the number of backup copies I make? I am limited in how, where and when I listen to music or films that I bought.  DRM is bad for the end-user, if not bad then certainly very inconvenient.  MPAA and RIAA trying to make me think that DRM is actually good for me, and gives me some sort of benefit? I think not. It's a pain in the arse and if it was all gone tomorrow I'd be a much happier, and less grumpy person.


Microsoft/Apple

I can see why both of these companies would be willing to bend to the MPAA/RIAA will, because if they don't then they don't get to sell the content on (at a profit, however small) and then people don't want to use their platform for media.  Is it good for Microsoft or Apple? I'd say no, I bet the air is blue around the offices of the DRM teams at both of these companies as two days after they release an update some 18 year kid in Eastern Europe has broken it again.  Would it be easier for both of these companies to sell content without DRM - my bet is yes. Would they lose money due to people willingly just coping the one song they bought and selling it?  Well in the early 80s when computer games came on computer tape and were very easy to copy, it wasn't the bloke at home copying a tape to give to his mate that the game companies objected to, it was the guy selling hundreds of copies on a market stall.  I think people would still buy content if it was DRM free.  I often give copies of CDs to my friend because I think he'll like in and in the vast majority of cases he comes back a week later having bought most of the back-catalogue.  People don't break DRM to distribute the content, they break DRM so they can control their own computer.

Artists

When you see then $150,000 and $15,000 dollar settlements, do you honestly believe the artist sees any substantial amount of this money? Do you? Really? And it is an obvious point, that the one thing (computers) that make it possible to have DRM is the one thing that the artist could use to lessen the cost of distribution so they are no longer getter pennies on a £14 CD sale (where the physical cost is around £1).


MPAA/RIAA

They get to collect money after suing 12 years olds, deceased people and people who have never been near a computer in their life.  They then get to decide which record companies should get this money - once they've had their cut - all the while trying to convince people that they are some sort of government mandated enforcement agency.  When they tried to complain about VHS they were told, in court, that if their business model could not be modified to support a new *generic* technology then they deserved what they got ..... sounds like they got away on appeal to me.

Rossj wrote:

When they tried to complain about VHS they were told, in court, that if their business model could not be modified to support a new *generic* technology then they deserved what they got ..... sounds like they got away on appeal to me.

In the UK, it's called the "British Phonographic Industry". Phonographs went out in the 60s with the introduction of tape. I think that says everything about what year they're living in.

Jason Cox wrote:

I've never had a problem with DRM, I dont see what such the big deal is, no matter how many times people keep sending me links to anti-DRM sites.

DRM disables old CD-ROMs, makes them unusable.

That is going to end up in some class action lawsuit that will make a group of lawyers rich and still not repair those CD-ROMs.

Aside from that, artists have every right to their intellectual property and I do not resent protective measures.

Post removed at user's request.

BobTurbo wrote:



Rossj wrote: DRM is directly in conflict with my right to do whatever I like with my possessions.

Can you point to where it says you have the right to do anything you want with something you pay money for at a shop?

You own a license. The license has terms. If you don't like those terms, then you are free to not buy the license.

I have a licence to possess a CD that I buy at a shop? Don't think so mate - that CD is mine, even if the music contained on it is copyrighted - we're not talking software here.

Rossj wrote:

I have a licence to possess a CD that I buy at a shop? Don't think so mate - that CD is mine, even if the music contained on it is copyrighted - we're not talking software here.

You'd like to think that

As AndyC has corrected me before, we have no such legal "right" to do that. We buy the CD not the music, we do not have legal permission to make backup copies or even rip them.

Strangly enough, it's the opposite for software. We've got the legal right to do practically anything with software we buy (incl. backup copies) no matter what the EULA says, except, of course, breaching copyright.

W3bbo wrote:


As AndyC has corrected me before, we have no such legal "right" to do that. We buy the CD not the music, we do not have legal permission to make backup copies or even rip them.

And yet, if the CD gets scratched or damaged, how much luck do you think you'll have persuading the record company to send you another CD with the music on? I'd guess none, they'll ask you to pay another £14 for another CD - but I have already paid to 'own' the content, so I am paying £14 for a blank CD?


Watch this, it's interesting.

Rossj wrote:



W3bbo wrote:  As AndyC has corrected me before, we have no such legal "right" to do that. We buy the CD not the music, we do not have legal permission to make backup copies or even rip them.

And yet, if the CD gets scratched or damaged, how much luck do you think you'll have persuading the record company to send you another CD with the music on? I'd guess none, they'll ask you to pay another £14 for another CD - but I have already paid to 'own' the content, so I am paying £14 for a blank CD?


Watch this, it's interesting.

I find it amazing that Britain doesn't have fair use laws...  but they don't!

CannotResolveSymbol wrote:

I find it amazing that Britain doesn't have fair use laws...  but they don't!

The Netherlands do have fair use laws, but we have to pay for them. Literally.

The BumaStemra (Dutch equivalent of the RIAA/MPAA) has a branch called the Stichting Thuiskopie (Foundation for home copying) which is responsible for this. The idea is that yes, you are allowed to make a copy of any media you own for personal use but, in order to compensate for this, we pay a fee on every blank medium, be it an audio or VHS tape, CD-R(W), DVD+/-R(W), anything. For instance on a blank DVD+R you have to pay €0.40 per 4.7GB (i.e. 40 cents for a single layer disc and 80 for a dual layer disc).

So what if you use these media for something else than a home copy? What if I put music I made myself on a CD? Or if I just burn data to a DVD? It doesn't matter, you still have to pay the fee.

CannotResolveSymbol wrote:


I find it amazing that Britain doesn't have fair use laws...  but they don't!

We have Bill of Wrongs though, although it isn't documented very well and in some cases you have to try something and see if you get arrested to find out if it is legal or not (you could ask a policeman or a lawyer but what is the fun in that).

Post removed at user's request.