We didn't need all that DRM after all??

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

________________________________________
From: Bob Frankston [bob37-2 () bobf frankston com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 10:50 AM
To: David Farber; 'ip'
Cc: Dave Burstein
Subject: We didn't need all that DRM after all??

Dave Burstein wrote:

1) The traffic at AT&T is rapidly shifting from p2p to streaming video such as YouTube and Hulu, per data below on the 
record and fact checked at a senior technical level. This matters, because any p2p solution will not do very much if 
p2p is much less of the traffic. It might postpone the need for an upgrade for 6 or 12 months, but p2p throttling can't 
do much more for most networks.

Let’s pause – putting aside all this argument over traffic management there is a far bigger implication – a marketplace 
solution in place of DRM. You don’t have to treat your users as criminals through DRM schemes with a huge amount of 
collateral damage – you can offer them a better product by some measure. Being able to go to a trusted site with a 
simple interface actually works. Sure, you have to be competitive and price is a factor but far better to compete than 
use DRM to cripple key technologies.

Without DRM think of how much more value we can find in current content. You can use your PC in lieu of the set top box 
and redistributed it to your viewing surface. You needn’t be limited to 1995 HDTV while also having the option of 
viewing on small screens or simply innovating.

While there is fear that there won’t be enough critical mass but the long tail phenomenon doesn’t mean people won’t 
choose to cluster around whatever happens to be popular – that’s a social effect and not necessarily a result of 
marketplace constrictions.

DRM is the face of fear and locks us firmly in the past and leaves us unable to create new value – a very stupid policy 
these days. Perhaps I’m being overoptimistic but fighting the future mustn’t be our primarily policy.

And the same goes for cable franchising rules that force us to spend billions on silos that cause so much collateral 
damage.






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