Why DRM Is A Creeping Menace

[GhostShip]

I took a peek at this article, it is not all encompassing but was written to give the basic facts on DRM and the danger of allowing any organisations or single companies to monopolise the consumer by stealth.

http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/1000073

As you probably know, DRM refers to a group of technologies designed to restrict access to digital information, typically software, music, or movies. Supporters of DRM claim that it is needed to prevent copyright violations and loss of income. Undoubtedly, computer technologies make violating copyright easier than every before, but, the frequent claims that the music and record industries are losing money because of these violations lack credibility because they are based on projected sales, and no pre-computer baseline exists for comparisons

But, despite the unproven need, DRM is slowly gaining legal status. Both the American Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and the European Union's European Copyright Directive legalize DRM, and other countries are looking at similar legalizations, largely because they are signatories to the 1996 World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty.

Whether DRM can reduce copyright violations is uncertain. Considering the inability to control similar technologies in the past, such as the tape recorder and the photocopier, probably it cannot. Rather than attempting to enforce the unenforceable, artists and manufacturers could probably make better use of their time by considering alternative business models. However, this inability to achieve its basic goal does not mean that DRM will not be implemented with dangerous consequences.

This article puts forth the main reasons why these "backdoor" agreements and methods need to be opposed, worth a read.

[SamSeeSam]

You know I don't think it is all that impossible to crack drm. Mabye it is now but it may not be in the future. So why all the fuss. I mean what is going to happen is going to happen. People will crack it just as they have done so many times before too.... and many more times in the future :twisted:

Cheers

[GhostShip]

The thing is Sam why let them rob the consumer of his/her rights ?

DRM seeks to steal lawful fair-use rights and give you less while pretending its to prevent piracy of copyright works, lets be honest, its a dismal failure and only affects those who buy DRM infested material with very small notices that dont exactly make anything clear, its a rip-off of the consumer and sitting by and allowing it through ignorance wont help.

You wont find me hiding the Cartels efforts to steal your rights from you folks, every underhand move will be reported here I hope, just like the SONY trojan affair was, a criminal act that they where punished for.

[SamSeeSam]

DRM seeks to steal lawful fair-use rights

So that's what I was saying . I they don't give it to people, then people are going to take them.
I don't think not possible someone has not found a way to remove drm from the material in which it is embedded. So what I was saying is that, they are going to end up with users removing the drm which cartels put after spending so many $$$.

Cheers