Dell to Add Security Chip to PCs

Justin justin-cypherpunks at soze.net
Sat Feb 5 07:57:29 PST 2005


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) 





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