Re: Flame Linus to a crisp!

Alan Cox
2003-04-24T23:28:44Z

On Iau, 2003-04-24 at 23:29, Werner Almesberger wrote:
> It's also worth to keep in mind that such decisions are frequently
> taken by people with very different agendas, e.g. if "protected by
> DRM" is perceived to appeal to analysts, shareholders or potential
> shareholders, it may quickly become policy in many companies, just
> like patents did.

Abusing DRM is a direct economic winner for anyone who does, thats
precisely the problem. Its also an economic loss for everyone who
isn't able to abuse it. The latter tend to be have less influence
with the US government.

With DRM the music industry can prevent artists from doing independant
publishing by making the case that "unprotected music is pirate" and
"mandating only signed music can be played". Without it they are doomed
not because of piracy but because they are less efficient than the
alternatives - to many bands less efficient right now than giving the
stuff away.