Prompt's TechBlog
Today is the Day against DRM
03 October 2006
Posted by Sean McManus
Defectivebydesign is leading a campaign today to take action against digital rights management technologies.
These are systems that are used to restrict how you can use data, including the encryption on DVDs and audio formats such as iTunes' AAC that restrict how you can copy music or where you can play it.
This campaign isn't about attacking copyright: it's about attacking restrictions on fair use of copyright material that people have legally acquired. Say I buy a CD, for example. Should the record company be allowed to decide what CD players I can play it in? Doesn't that defeat the object of having a CD standard in the first place? Increasingly, record companies include software on CDs to stop you from being able to copy them using a PC. That software can make the CD unstable in certain audio players (typically portable and car players). Additionally, the software typically works by installing non-standard and unrequested software on the user's PC.
Last year, Sony caused a stink by including software on audio CDs that had the side effect of introducing a hiding place for trojans. The software installed itself automatically without asking for permission. Sony believed its right to stop you copying its content (which incidentally does not extend to copying for your own use or backup purposes) must override your right to decide what software is installed on your machine.
Last week we reported in our weekly newsletter that the British Library has expressed concern about DRM. Its worry is that DRM will be used to stop content from ever entering the public domain. If all copies of material in circulation are effectively locked, how can they be freely copied or adapted once copyright expires?
As the Defectivebydesign website reports, activists spent time at the weekend warning people at the Apple store in New York about DRM. The website quotes an unnamed Disney executive as saying: "If consumers even know there's a DRM, what it is, and how it works, we've already failed". Raising awareness of DRM is key to the battle and today is the day to do it, Defectivebydesign says.
We can't help thinking that they're pushing their luck by trying to get Bono on board though. Yes, he's politically aware. Yes, he speaks his mind. Yes, he's got the Pope on speed dial. But, wasn't he the figurehead for one of the iPod's biggest media splashes ever, when it launched a special U2 edition iPod? And didn't he say that he did all that hardware promotion for free, the only kickback being any sales of the band's music that it generated? If Defectivebydesign wants a rock icon to lead the campaign, they still haven't found what they're looking for.
These are systems that are used to restrict how you can use data, including the encryption on DVDs and audio formats such as iTunes' AAC that restrict how you can copy music or where you can play it.
This campaign isn't about attacking copyright: it's about attacking restrictions on fair use of copyright material that people have legally acquired. Say I buy a CD, for example. Should the record company be allowed to decide what CD players I can play it in? Doesn't that defeat the object of having a CD standard in the first place? Increasingly, record companies include software on CDs to stop you from being able to copy them using a PC. That software can make the CD unstable in certain audio players (typically portable and car players). Additionally, the software typically works by installing non-standard and unrequested software on the user's PC.
Last year, Sony caused a stink by including software on audio CDs that had the side effect of introducing a hiding place for trojans. The software installed itself automatically without asking for permission. Sony believed its right to stop you copying its content (which incidentally does not extend to copying for your own use or backup purposes) must override your right to decide what software is installed on your machine.
Last week we reported in our weekly newsletter that the British Library has expressed concern about DRM. Its worry is that DRM will be used to stop content from ever entering the public domain. If all copies of material in circulation are effectively locked, how can they be freely copied or adapted once copyright expires?
As the Defectivebydesign website reports, activists spent time at the weekend warning people at the Apple store in New York about DRM. The website quotes an unnamed Disney executive as saying: "If consumers even know there's a DRM, what it is, and how it works, we've already failed". Raising awareness of DRM is key to the battle and today is the day to do it, Defectivebydesign says.
We can't help thinking that they're pushing their luck by trying to get Bono on board though. Yes, he's politically aware. Yes, he speaks his mind. Yes, he's got the Pope on speed dial. But, wasn't he the figurehead for one of the iPod's biggest media splashes ever, when it launched a special U2 edition iPod? And didn't he say that he did all that hardware promotion for free, the only kickback being any sales of the band's music that it generated? If Defectivebydesign wants a rock icon to lead the campaign, they still haven't found what they're looking for.
# posted by Sean McManus at 9:58 AM 
Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home