The worst technology idea since the electrified nipple-clamp is "Digital
Rights Management," a suite of voodoo products that are supposed to
control what you do with information after you lawfully acquire it. When
you buy a DVD abroad and can't watch it at home because it's from the
wrong "region," that's DRM. When you buy a CD and it won't rip on your
computer, that's DRM. When you buy an iTune and you can't loan it to a
friend, that's DRM.
DRM doesn't work. Every file ever released with DRM locks on it is
currently available for free download on the Internet. You don't need
any special skills to break DRM these days: you just have to know how to
search Google for the name of the work you're seeking.
No customer wants DRM. No one woke up this morning and said, "Damn, I
wish there was a way to do less with my books, movies and music."
DRM can't control copying, but it can control competition. Apple can
threaten to sue Real for making Realmedia players for the iPod on the
grounds that Real had to break Apple DRM to accomplish this. The cartel
that runs licensing for DVDs can block every new feature in DVDs in
order to preserve its cushy business model (why is it that all you can
do with a DVD you bought ten years ago is watch it, exactly what you
could do with it then -- when you can take a CD you bought a decade ago
and turn it into a ringtone, an MP3, karaoke, a mashup, or a file that
you send to a friend?).
DRM is used to silence and even jail researchers who expose its flaws,
thanks to laws like the US DMCA and Europe's EUCD.
In case there's any doubt: I hate DRM. There is no DRM on this
book. None of the books you get from this site have DRM on them. If you
get a DRMed ebook, I urge you to break the locks off it and convert it
to something sensible like a text file.
If you want to read more about DRM, here's a talk I gave to Microsoft on
the subject:
http://craphound.com/msftdrm.txt
and here's a paper I wrote for the International Telecommunications
Union about DRM and the developing world:
http://www.eff.org/IP/DRM/itu_drm.php
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