MESSAGE
| DATE | 2006-06-05 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] CRAP
|
DRM is Theft and CRAP
On Mon, Jun 05, 2006 at 03:59:40AM -0400, Ruben Safir wrote:
> DVD-Recordable.org:
>
> As Microsoft developers gathered in Seattle to hear Bill Gates's
> keynote speech on the future of Microsoft and the coming release of
> its updated operating system Vista, protesters wearing bright yellow
> Hazmat suits swarmed the entrance of the city's convention center,
> delivering an unsettling message to the corporation: your product
> is defective and hazardous to users….The surprise protest marked
> the launch of DefectiveByDesign.org, a direct-action campaign that
> will target Big Media and corporations peddling Digital Restrictions
> Management (DRM). "Flash protests, direct actions, and practical ways
> that people can get involved and help stop the stupidity of DRM,"
> is how campaign manager Gregory Heller described the grassroots
> effort….An initiative of the Free Software Foundation (FSF),
> Defective By Design is urging all technologists to get involved at
> the start of the campaign.
>
> Here's the photo (see copyright disclaimer regarding this photo at the
> end of this blog post), courtesy of DefectiveByDesign.org:
>
> WinHECstreetscene.jpg
>
> There are two issues here.
>
> 1. Digital rights management is like unsolicted commercial e-mail. UCE
> was just never an acronym that resulted in awareness or action. UCE
> needed something sexier that the masses could sink their teeth into.
> Something like "spam." DRM, as acronyms go, isn't going to make Otis
> turn red in the gills with anger. And, with all due respect to the Free
> Software Foundation which is behind DefectiveByDesign.org, I can think of
> a million things that are defective by design. DRM needs a special name.
> A name that you can sink your teeth into like "spam." A name like "CRAP."
> Even better, Richard Stallman, the leader of the Free Software Foundation,
> likes the acronym CRAP and came up with a better suggestion than I did for
> what it should stand for (one that ZDNet's readers approved of)! Stallman
> wants CRAP to stand for Cancellation, Restriction And Punishment.
> Works for me and it's ZDNet-reader approved. So, to you anti-DRM folks
> who want that crap out of your lives, use CRAP to get your point across.
>
> 2. Here on ZDNet, and in email, I've been taking some heat for
> my idealism, or in this case, my lack thereof, when it comes to
> DRM… er… CRAP. Follow this thread for an example. Some readers
> would rather see me stick to the hard line of buying and advocating
> nothing that includes DRM. In essence, donning a hazmat suit like the
> CRAP-fighters above (personally, what better metaphor can you ask for..
> hazmat suits, crap…get the picture?). So, just to be clear, I haven't
> personally purchased any DRM-related material since first figuring out
> the downside for myself (not being able to play 99 cent songs on a $20K
> whole home audio system). That said, I've had people come up to me
> and ask which MP3 player they should buy for themselves or someone else
> as a gift and, invariably, they're not open to the idea of not buying
> one at all, buying one that takes a lot of work (circumventing DRM,
> digitizing music yourself), or breaking the law. I know. They must be
> from another planet. Freaks.
>
> OK, back on Earth, these people exist. And so, the question is, do you
> stick to your ideals, walk away, and let them suffer from their own lack
> of enlightenment. Or, do you at least try to guide them to something
> that's a fender bender compared to a fatal accident? I will vote with
> my dollars. But, at the same time, if there are people out there that
> refuse to heed the ultimate advice, I can't let my idealism stand in
> the way of steering people away from the trainwrecks. That's why I'll
> try to guide people like that to solutions like Navio or Project DReaM,
> only after giving up on convincing them to not buy any of this CRAP.
> CRAP is a dirty business and in the end, it's we, the users, who get
> dumped on. But there are some things we can do to control the extent
> to which that happens.
>
> As a side note, I have begun circulating a note internally here at
> CNET Networks that asks those in a position to do so to take a harder
> line against DRM than is traditionally taken across all of our Web
> properties. It includes some concrete editorial measures that can be
> taken in order to better inform our audience members of the consequences
> every time they vote for DRM with their dollars.
>
> Copyright notice regarding the photo included with this post: Copyright
> 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
> Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA. Verbatim copying and distribution of site
> content permitted worldwide, without royalty, in any medium, provided
> this notice, and the copyright notice, are preserved. 12 Comments |
> Blog This | E-mail This | Print This | Permalink Categories: Home,
> Open Source, Software Infrastructure, Security, Entertainment, Digital
> Restrictions Management
>
> * Previous Post * Next Post
>
> Read the latest Talkback post correction... sorry... I meant to say that
> nobody could be that clueless UNLESS it was on purpose! (Read the rest)
>
> * DRM Is Spware Dressed Up In A Suit P. Douglas -- 05/24/06 *
> At least they demostrated what idiots they are. No_Ax_to_Grind --
> 05/24/06 * Add your opinionAdd your opinion
>
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>
> On Fri, Jun 02, 2006 at 02:58:48AM -0400, Ruben Safir wrote: > Free
> Software Foundation: Free as in "do what I say" Stallman-headed > group's
> increasing politicization leaves a sour taste > > > By Neil McAllister
> > > May 29, 2006 > > When Richard Stallman created the Free Software
> Foundation (FSF) > in 1985, it was organized around a radical idea:
> Software should be > free, not just as in free of charge, but free as
> in the concept of > liberty. During the next 20 years that idea turned
> out to be not just > radical, but surprisingly practical. Beginning with
> Stallman's Emacs > text editor, to the various Gnu utilities, the Linux
> kernel, and beyond, > free software has proved to be an enduring success.
> > > Much of the credit for that can be given to Stallman himself. Through
> > his tireless campaigning, he has transformed this idealistic notion >
> into something that the wider world, and even the business community,
> > can accept and take seriously. Although it may not always be easy
> to > agree with him, his arguments have been rational, and if nothing
> else, > intellectually consistent to the last. > > All the more
> reason to be disappointed by the FSF's recent, regrettable > spiral
> into misplaced neopolitical activism, far removed from its own > stated
> first principles. In particular, the FSF's moralistic opposition > to DRM
> (digital rights management) technologies, which first manifested > itself
> in early drafts of Version 3 of the GPL (Gnu General Public > License),
> seems now to have been elevated to the point of evangelical > dogma. > >
> [ Talkback: Has FSF gone too far? ] > > The FSF's most recent effort --
> an anti-DRM protest staged at Microsoft's > WinHEC conference last week,
> complete with demonstrators costumed in > hazmat suits -- was particularly
> troubling. It signals a shift in the > FSF, from an advocacy organization
> to one that engages in hysterical > activism cut from the PETA mold.
> > > Emblazoned across the demonstration's home page is the alarming
> statement, > "There is no more important cause for freedom than the
> call for action > to stop DRM from crippling our digital future." >
> > Sure. And if you buy that one, I've got a bridge to sell you that >
> stretches from North Korea to the Sudan. > > For starters, market
> realities right here in the United States put > the lie to the FSF's
> histrionics. Apple's iTunes Store, which sells > DRM-encoded music and
> videos to millions of iPod owners, is going like > gangbusters. Clearly,
> despite DRM's widely discussed inadequacies and > regular aggravations,
> more than a few consumers are willing to put up > with it when the price
> is right. That's just basic free-market economics. > > In a statement
> regarding the demonstration, FSF executive director Peter > Brown said,
> "A media player that restricts what you can play is like a > car that
> won't let you steer" -- a false analogy so patently absurd as > to be
> laughable to a grade-school student. > > You know what customers would
> do with a car that couldn't steer? Run > like hell. If their MP3 files
> were really similarly crippled (though > perhaps not quite as deadly,
> Mr. Brown), I'm willing to bet they would do > the same -- to non-DRM
> competitors such as eMusic, perhaps, or even to > plain old-fashioned
> CDs. For DRM to fail in the entertainment industry, > all that needs
> to happen is for customers to choose not to buy it, > which in turn
> should convince artists not to use it. > > But the FSF has chosen a
> different path. Convinced, perhaps, that average > consumers are too
> stupid to know what's good for them, it's embarked > on a mission that's
> even more insidious than the DRM it opposes. No DRM > system ever told
> an artist what notes to play or what lyrics were OK to > sing. But the
> FSF seems intent on doing just that. > > One of the original tenets of
> the GPL was that users of software should be > free, not just to run the
> software and make copies of it, but to examine > its code and improve on
> it. Free software means, among other things, > the freedom of programmers
> to write code. > > But not, apparently, under the new FSF order. In
> this new worldview, > DRM is Wrong. It is verboten. And who knows what
> other algorithm or > subroutine might be cast out next; but who are we
> to question? By > abandoning social and economic arguments in favor of
> a moral one, the > FSF is in effect telling us that God is on its side.
> > > This shift is very troubling. Among its other devices, the FSF has
> > chosen to unilaterally re-christen DRM as "digital restrictions >
> management." If I were to stoop to that level, I might describe the >
> FSF as the "Fundamentalist Software Foundation." But why go there? If >
> free software is going to maintain its relevance to the broader user >
> and business community, it must resist the temptation toward further >
> radicalism, give up the name-calling and demagoguery, and re-embrace >
> the rationality that Richard Stallman has demonstrated in the past.
> > > Free software has proved its worth. That good reputation can only
> be > damaged by turning a movement into a crusade. > > print this`
> > -- > __________________________ > Brooklyn Linux Solutions > > So
> many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like >
> Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world - >
> RI Safir 1998 > > DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002 >
> http://fairuse.nylxs.com > > "Yeah - I write Free Software...so SUE ME"
> > > http://www.mrbrklyn.com - Consulting http://www.inns.net <-- Happy >
> Clients http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free Software >
> http://www2.mrbrklyn.com/resources - Unpublished Archive or stories and
> > articles from around the net http://www2.mrbrklyn.com/downtown.html -
> > See the New Downtown Brooklyn....
>
> -- __________________________ Brooklyn Linux Solutions
>
> So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like
> Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world -
> RI Safir 1998
>
> DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002
> http://fairuse.nylxs.com
>
> "Yeah - I write Free Software...so SUE ME"
>
> "The tremendous problem we face is that we are becoming sharecroppers
> to our own cultural heritage -- we need the ability to participate in
> our own society."
>
> http://www.mrbrklyn.com - Consulting http://www.inns.net <-- Happy
> Clients http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free Software
> http://www2.mrbrklyn.com/resources - Unpublished Archive or stories and
> articles from around the net http://www2.mrbrklyn.com/downtown.html -
> See the New Downtown Brooklyn....
--
__________________________
Brooklyn Linux Solutions
So many immigrant groups have swept through our town
that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological
proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002
http://fairuse.nylxs.com
"Yeah - I write Free Software...so SUE ME"
"The tremendous problem we face is that we are becoming
sharecroppers to our own cultural heritage -- we need
the ability to participate in our own society."
http://www.mrbrklyn.com - Consulting
http://www.inns.net <-- Happy Clients
http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free Software
http://www2.mrbrklyn.com/resources - Unpublished Archive or stories and articles from around the net
http://www2.mrbrklyn.com/downtown.html - See the New Downtown Brooklyn....
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