Simon Haynes on DRM

[unixronin]

(via a pointer from james_nicoll er ... excuse my brainfart, I meant davefreer)

DRM stands for Digital Rights Management, and it's a fancy term for copyright protection.

Electronic gadgets are released at a staggering pace, and there have been situations where encrypted files purchased a few years ago are no longer supported by new and improved devices.  I have hundreds of paperbacks which were published thirty and forty years ago, and somehow they don't seem to suffer from the same flaw.

Ebooks should be like paperbacks.  Once you've bought them they should be readable on whichever computer program or ebook device you own now, or in the future.  They shouldn't be locked to EbookReaderWidget 2000 when you really want to read them on EbookWidgetPlus 2008.  (You may have no intention of upgrading, but what if your ancient but workable ERW 2000 falls in the bath?)

Comments

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

The cost is the other side of the equation. Only those players in it for the long haul, or with a failing business model, can afford to pursue the escalation of copy protection vs breaker. I heard that copy protection sophistication increases linearly, while cracking schemes are squared. There is this business downturn going on right now. Some Harvard MBA is going to look at the ongoing costs of adding copy protection vs ... What? What is that money buying the company? Quantify it, if you can. And it produces ill will over time. It may keep trying to come back, but most reputable companies will move away from it.

It is still an attempt to revoke my rights as a consumer. They want my money, they respect my rights.