I love the above picture. I giggle when I see it. I think it’s funny for no other reason then the fact that everyone has seen those stupid black figures dancing on their TV at one point or another… and wanted to choke them.
The pictures are the idea of an organization called “Defective by Design”. Their cause is to force “governments, corporations, and politicians take the steps necessary to protect our rights.” More specifically, to force the previously mentioned parties to end DRM (Digital Rights Management), and to allow us, U.S. citizens, to practice our “Fair Use” rights.
Digital Rights Management, or more appropriately Digital Restrictions Management, is used to prevent theft, duplication, and piracy of digital copyrighted works.
Fair Use is base on our First Amendment right to Free Speech, and allows limited use of copyrighted material without approval from the copyright holder(s). An example of Fair Use rights in action would be making a recording of a CD, to a tape, to listen to in your car. Another example would be to convert the tracks on that same CD to MP3 files to listen to on your MP3 Player. Both these scenarios are legal as long as the recording is for your use only.
Unfortunately the major recording studios, record labels, movie studio, “Hollywood”, and the Entertainment Industry (EI) as a whole has used DRM to cripple what we can and can’t do with the things we buy.
The EI started out legitimately enough trying to shut down file sharing web sites like Napster and Kazaa. These sites hid behind the Fair Use rights trying to say everyone on their site was a worldwide collection of “friends” and it was legal for these “friends” to share their music. Everyone can pretty much agree there was a problem with that.
Now the EI has taken it too far. They have encroached on the rights of normal law abiding citizens to practice their Fair Use rights. Everyone but the EI can agree there is a definite problem with that.
Can I download a song from iTunes and listen to it on my Creative Muvo? Can my uncle download a song from Rhapsody and listen to it on his iPod? Can I convert a DVD to a MPEG file to watch on my PocketPC while I ride the bus to work in the mornings? The answer to all of these is NO! These are all things that should be legal under our Fair Use Rights, but thanks to overbearing DRM practices they are not capable or are illegal to bypass.
Recently Defective by Design held a protest outside several Apple stores. The iTunes/iPod combo is not the only show in town with horribly overbearing DRM practices, but with the largest share of the market I feel they have a responsibility to their customers to act as a middleman against the EI. Instead Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo, Virgin, and all the other online music providers have enjoyed tremendous success while pointing their finger at the Entertainment Industry anytime someone questions them about their DRM policies… Shame.
Sparky
1 comment:
I'll agree in principle that there should be a balance between fair use and protecting the property rights of the media owners. However, I really think that both sides have overblown the "damage" that is being caused to their side.
The fair use was established when the VCR first became popular but instead of destroying the entertainment industry, it created a new revenue source for them. Every new recording medium has been feared as the next nail in the coffin of the media industry. Each time they have been proven wrong.
The Music industry isn't now crumbling because of music piracy; it because they have been slow to recognize the paradigm shift and move with it. If they collapse, some other saavy person or persons will come in to fill the void.
On the other side, people are not nearly as restricted as the DbD people make it sound. I can't speak for WMA files, but you can buy music at the iTMS and convert them into MP3 format. Is it easy? No, but I guess that's the point.
I suppose the crux of the issue is not whether you can do it, it's whether you can do it legally. I think that is should be, but there needs to barriers to make it difficult for the pirates. It's at a tough issue, but I believe the courts will eventually re-confirm fair use for the digital age.
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