more on Media Companies Go Too Far in Curbing Consumers' Activities

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: lee.h.elliott () accenture com
Date: October 24, 2005 9:40:55 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: RE: [IP] Media Companies Go Too Far in Curbing Consumers'  
Activities


As a personal example of this, I purchased a song from iTunes for the
first time the other day.  Foolishly I thought that I would be able to
listen to my song on my Creative Zen MP3 player, but it is not an iPod
so I can not.  I guess I could go through the whole routine of burning a
CD then ripping the song off the CD and importing to my Zen, but I think
it is far easier to go to one of the P2P networks and download a copy of
the song that I already own that doesn't have DRM.

This follows on several of the themes that are being pursued by IP
recently. The cell phone issue is the same as the DRM issue: the
consumer is not allowed to use the technology/product that they have
legally purchased in the way that they want to.  I have an AT&T phone
that works on the Rogers Network (Canadian) but they won't activate it
because it is from the US.  They will sell me the exact same phone, but
won't let me use the one I have.

Everyone keeps talking about the eventual revolution when the consumers
finally wake up to what is going on, but I think the main issue is that
the people 'in the know' are the ones on the fringes of society.  The
majority of the consumers are happy to buy the computer with a 'DRM
enabled' Intel chip because it is on sale, or keep their existing cell
phone plan because they 'have to'.

With all the consolidation that is happening with the major corporations
(look at Sony as not only the manufacturer of the wonderful gear we use,
but as the supplier of the content as well) they are going to put these
consumer unfriendly technologies in place.  How long can we at the
fringes hold out?  How do we make the 'masses' aware of what's going on
and organize the proper revolt?

Lee


Lee Elliott
Manager, Communications & High Technology
e:Lee.H.Elliott () Accenture com
o:416.641.3284
c:647.299.1731
aim: LeeElliottACN


-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber [mailto:dave () farber net]
Sent: Monday, October 24, 2005 6:49 AM
To: Ip Ip
Subject: [IP] Media Companies Go Too Far in Curbing Consumers'
Activities



Begin forwarded message:

From: Monty Solomon <monty () roscom com>
Date: October 24, 2005 12:59:11 AM EDT
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Subject: Media Companies Go Too Far in Curbing Consumers' Activities



October 20, 2005
Media Companies Go Too Far in Curbing Consumers' Activities

By WALTER S. MOSSBERG

In some quarters of the Internet, the three most hated letters of the
alphabet are DRM. They stand for Digital Rights Management, a set of
technologies for limiting how people can use the music and video files
they've purchased from legal downloading services. DRM is even being
used to limit what you can do with the music you buy on physical CDs, or
the TV shows you record with a TiVo or other digital video recorder.

Once mainly known inside the media industries and among activists who
follow copyright issues, DRM is gradually becoming familiar to average
consumers, who are increasingly bumping up against its limitations.

DRM is computer code that can be embedded in music and video files to
dictate how these files are used. The best-known example is the music
Apple Computer sells at its iTunes Music Store. Using a DRM system it
invented called FairPlay, Apple has rigged its songs, at the insistence
of the record companies, so that they can be played only on a maximum of
five computers, and so that you can burn only seven CDs containing the
same playlist of purchased tracks. If Apple hadn't done this, the record
labels wouldn't have allowed it to sell their music.

DRM systems are empty vessels -- they can enforce any rules copyright
holders choose, or no rules at all. Apple's DRM rules are liberal enough
that few consumers object to them. In fact, obtaining relatively liberal
DRM rules from the labels was the key to Apple's success in selling
music. But some other uses of DRM technology aren't so benign.

...

http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/ptech-20051020.html



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