DRM will not be legislated

[Mike Rosing]

On Mon, 8 Jul 2002 jamesd at echeque.com wrote:

> Voluntary DRM can never stop piracy.  With voluntary DRM, people
> can break once on one machine, then run the latest Napster
> replacement on the every machine on the internet in non DRM mode,
> and copy that file that was ripped on one machine, to every
> machine.

Obviously.  But if the "content" is on a private net hooked into
private boxes, putting the data onto the public web becomes a touch
more difficult.

> Voluntary DRM is only useful to the content industry as a stepping
> stone to compulsory DRM

Only in some executive's wet dream.  And they've got enough problems
dealing with their accounting division right now :-)

> Voluntary DRM is only useful to the industry to reach the point
> where they can say "Only copyright pirates, terrorists, drug
> trafficers, child pornographers, tax evaders, and money launderers
> need to run their machines in non DRM mode."

And if they can't deliver enough product to make DRM worth while, they
never get that far do they.  If the economics works, they don't need laws,
and if the economics don't work, they won't get laws. When the big boys
figure out how to deliver their stuff with better quality and more
"coolness" than P2P, they'll make plenty of money.

Shit, we might even convince them it's worth while running fiber to every
home on the planet.  If they don't, they're toast anyway.  Teenagers can
wait all day and night for a few songs, but the rest of us don't have time
to waste on it.  With enough bandwidth, DRM becomes irrelevant.  The
recorded past isn't where the cash is, the instantaneous *now* is where
the money gets collected.

Someday they'll figure it out, but I suspect it'll be a teenager that hits
'em over the head with the 2x4.

Patience, persistence, truth,
Dr. mike