Re: Why DRM exists [was Re: Flame Linus to a crisp!]

Ben Collins
2003-04-27T17:09:18Z

> The open source community, in my opinion, is certainly a contributing
> factor in the emergence of the DMCA and DRM efforts. This community
> thinks it is perfectly acceptable to copy anything that they find useful.
> Take a look at some of the recent BK flamewars and over and over you
> will see people saying "we'll clone it". That's not unique to BK,
> it's the same with anything else which is viewed as useful. And nobody
> sees anything wrong with that, or copying music, whatever. "If it's
> useful, take it" is the attitude.

Cloning is not illegal, nor is it something that the DMCA/DRM is
supposed to protect against. Wanting things for free is not illegal, nor
does it contribute to illegal behavior.

Larry, I do take a bit of offense to your blanket statement, basically
calling me a thief.

I don't pirate software, I respect copyrights (I don't use BK anymore
even under the free license, because I respect your license/copyrights).
I pay for my music, even though I do convert it to mp3 so I can fit 130
songs on a CDR to play in my truck. That's not illegal.

Yeah, I've used the mp3 trading to download music for some of my old
CD's that are now too scratched up to backup. That's perfectly moral,
even if it becomes illegal. Maybe one day it wont be legal. The music
companies will sell media that is easily damaged so that people will
have a lifecycle for their purchased music. Or maybe they'll make you
pay per play, or charge you a subscription for "1000 song playlists".
Call me paranoid.

Plain and simple, I am not a contributing factor to the DMCA/DRM. And
claiming that the community that I take great pride in being a part of
is in fact nothing but a bunch of thieves with low morals just pisses me
off.

Putting all of us on the same level as the zero-day-warez groups is
pretty fucked up.

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