On 2005-02-03T22:25:28+0100, Anonymous wrote:
The only people endangered by this capability are those who want to be able to lie. They want to agree to contracts and user agreements that, for example, require them to observe DRM restrictions and copyright laws, but then they want the power to go back on their word, to dishonor their commitment, and to lie about their promises. An honest man is
No, I want the right to fair use of material I buy. If someone sells DRM-only material, I won't buy it at anything approaching non-DRM prices. In some cases, I won't buy it at all. My fair use rights should not be held hostage by a stupid majority who support a DRM-only market. Maybe the market for music won't support DRM-only products, but I suspect the market for DVDs and low-sales books will. The result is that I won't be able to rip a season's worth of DVDs so I can watch them all without playing hot potato with the physical DVDs. I won't be able to avoid the 15-second copyright warnings, or the useless menu animations. Low-sales books may end up being DRM-only, and I _hate_ reading books on a screen. Since DRM-only rare books will satisfy some of the market, there will be even less pressure on physical book publishers to occasionally reprint them, thus forcing even more people to buy the DRM'd ebooks. I bought an ebook on amazon for $1.99 a couple months ago. The printed book was $20. It was very nearly the worst purchase of my life. I won't buy a similarly DRM'd ebook every again, for any amount. The hassle plus the restrictions aren't worth the $18 savings. -- "War is the father and king of all, and some he shows as gods, others as men; some he makes slaves, others free." --Heraclitus (Kahn.83/D-K.53)