Roy Schestowitz wrote:
> __/ [ [H]omer ] on Monday 15 January 2007 20:27 \__
>
>> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>>
>>> Peter Gutmann on Vista DRM
[snip]
>>> http://www.grc.com/sn/SN-074.htm
>>>
>>> Transcripts and audio.
>> It makes for some very depressing listening, unless one considers
>> that these insanely draconian measures could ultimately be
>> Microsoft's undoing, and possibly even Hollywood's.
>>
>> As they suggested on the show, there really will be a rebellion.
> I really think it's becoming a sort of power struggle between the
> wealthy and the exploited, You know, many people out there would
> happily share their work for no more than enough to make ends meet
> (I happen to fit that group). Meanwhile, other people think that
> they heroically fight for the American way as they alter the laws
> which they perceive as illegitimate. They are turning "Land of the
> Free" into "The Land of Nothing for Free". It's sad. Give us the
> poor, the homeless, the wounded... so that we can have them produce
> Nike shoes and pay us as much tax as necessary/possible so long as
> they can eat and shower.
Fighting DRM issues and proprietary software isn't about the financial
cost to the consumer though, it's about the inhibition ... indeed the
complete destruction of civil liberties.
If I use some cracking software on premium content, it isn't because I
want to *steal* it because I can't *afford* it, it's because having
*paid* for it I then find I can't listen to it or watch it _on my
terms_. Maybe it requires Windows, which I don't want to use, or
requires brand "X" of a portable device, but I own another brand.
We live in a society that is used to the concept of "buy once, play
anywhere, and forever" content. That's not theft ... it has nothing to
do with poverty. But now the content providers, fuelled by paranoia
and greed, want to make us buy the same content, over and over and
over again, for each different device, and then only be able to enjoy
that content under certain extremely limited conditions ... "you may
not use Linux, you must use Windows, you must buy a PlaysForSure media
player, it must be Windows Media, the content license expires after 30
days, you may not transfer this content to another device, your
content license will be revoked if you cancel your account", etc.,
etc.
Christ! Sometimes I feel like I should check the history books to
confirm that the western allies *won* WWII, because right now it
certainly doesn't feel like it, in terms of our civil liberties
anyway.
It's sickening to think that something as trivial as music and films,
could ultimately be responsible for the destruction of civil liberties
in our society. How did we ever let these bastards accumulate so much
power?
--
K.
http://slated.org - Slated, Rated & Blogged
.----
| "We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support
| any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the
| success of liberty." - John F. Kennedy
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Fedora Core release 5 (Bordeaux) on sky, running kernel 2.6.18-1.2849.fc6
00:06:31 up 58 days, 16:27, 3 users, load average: 0.20, 0.07, 0.09
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