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Old 01-07-2009, 03:11 PM   #1
bill_mchale
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FTC to hold hearings on DRM..

I just saw this over on Teleread, and I thought it was important enough to bring to everyone's attention over here:
http://www.teleread.org/blog/2009/01...rm-referendum/

Apparently, the FTC is soliciting comments about DRM technology. So I think as many of us as possible should develop thoughtful comments on the issue.

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Old 01-07-2009, 03:17 PM   #2
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I will write a comment to the web site. After I submit it, I will place the comment on this thread. Please express your own views to our government, even if, (especially if!), you don't agree with my comments. it's our government....
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Old 01-07-2009, 03:22 PM   #3
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Interesting; particularly considering Apple's announcement that future iTunes downloads will not carry copy protection.

The Guardian's article on this announcement says, "DRM was originally designed to prevent downloaders from sharing files illegally, but it has become a divisive issue."
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Old 01-07-2009, 04:46 PM   #4
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On a related note:

Obama picks RIAA's favorite lawyer for a top Justice post.

Maybe The RIAA can get what they want while circumventing the courts and the legislature.
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Old 01-07-2009, 06:01 PM   #5
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Dear Sirs:

I am writing to give one citizen's view of DRM. To provide full disclosure, I have formally filed and obtained two (2) US copyrights so far in my life, and have recent provided a modest piece of fiction directly to the public domain, pro bono publico. In addition, I have scanned and proofed 5 written works in the US public domain, three for Project Gutenberg US, and two for Project Gutenberg Austrialia.
DRM is a subject that bring forth great passions among some people, and eventually great annoyance to the public at large. It is bound inextricably with copyright abuse, both by direct violation of copyright among individuals and the indirect abuse of copyright extensions by corporate entites who are unwilling to accept that copyright is not perpetual property, which is explicitly written into the US Constitution.
DRM encompasses a variety of methods, whose purpose is to prevent unauthorized copying of a digital file. The questions at hand are 1. Is it effective? 2. Does it infringe upon the purchaser's right of property, while protecting the creator's limited monopoly rights? 3. Are the competing rights properly balanced? And finally, what about piracy?

1. Is it effective? The answer is, at best, only somewhat. To a person with little technological interest, DRM will probably be effective. Unfortunately for the users of DRM, this is not the majority of users of their product, or if it is today, the demographic trend will reduce them to a minority in the future. Virtually every DRM in existence has been broken, and effective methods can be obtains somewhere in the world for users to break the individual items protected by DRM at their leisure. Therefore, I cannot say that DRM has been a roaring success. It does place obstacles to purchasers, who have complained not just vocally, but with their dollars, whenever possible. The recent trend to drop DRM in downloaded music is a relevant example. Given a choice, the public chose unDRMed music over DRMed music. The sellers have belated chosen current sales over future property protection via DRM.
2. Does it infringe upon the purchaser's right of property, while protecting the creator's limited monopoly rights? Since I deem it to be not very effective (see previous), it provided more of a psychological fig leaf for intellectual property rights rather that an iron-clad protection of the same. Are there real costs for the purchasers? Yes, there are. As long as I.P. had been tied to a physical object, say a book, the purchaser could do what they wanted with the acquired piece of property. They could loan it, sell it, or pitch it in a fire if they so chose to. With DRM'ed I.P., you can't loan it out or sell it or give it away legally. Those are real use losses to the purchaser. Often the price is not lowered to compensate for these losses.
3. Are the competeing rights properly balanced? This probably goes beyond the scope of DRM, but DRM is being used as a bulwark against balancing public interest in limits of copyright length versus monopoly interests. Notwithstanding the 2003 Supreme Court Ashcroft decision, the purpose of copyright was to encourage creation of new works for the public good. This was done by providing an economic incentive, i.e. a limited monopoly. One unassailable fact exists, a dead person no longer creates. All the incentives in the world will not cause more creation from a dead person. They only fatten the intermediaries and heirs, who create nothing new. The effort of various I.P. intermediaries to continually extend copyright is to the detriment of the public good, even though it is to the advantage of the I.P. intermediaries, who wish to treat copyright as a perpetual monopoly, even though it is explicitly constitutionally not perpetual. Until this scenario changes, I.P. will retain less and less respect to the public.

I will now deal wth intellectual piracy. The question is not whether DRM will stop piracy. The answer is that it obviously hasn't. Nor are Draconian laws something that will stop piracy. They obviously haven't. Piracy is going to be a ongoing background situation, as long as there is a open society with open communication. It, unfortunately, is one of the prices we pay for a free society. At the same time, what can reduce (not eliminate) piracy?
The answer is something that strike to the heart of copyright. Copyright is a limited monopoly. And all monopolies attempt to set the highest effective price for their goods (i.e., the price that will yield the highest total profit (price vs. sales)). The prices are set by competition between monopolies. Piracy sets a cap upon the maximun price that all these monopolies can charge, to the price that the average consumer will pay for convenience. If the price is cheap enough, and it is easy to find the product, the vast majority of people will pay to buy I.P. versus pirating the same I.P.
For example, I can go to grocery store and buy a quart of milk, for a price. There may be a convenience store right next to the store, selling the same quart of milk for 50 cents more. Why would I pay 50 cents more? Because the walk from the parking lot to the grocery store is longer, it takes more time to get the quart of milk from the refrigerated section, longer to check out, and then longer to walk back to the car. I'm paying for convenience at the convenience store, and I'll pay an extra 50 cents for it. I won't pay $5.00, nor $50.00. Nor will I do without milk because somebody who controls milk has decided I can't have it because somebody else might steal some of it.
And so it is with I.P. You can't charge monopoly prices against a free, albeit illegal, competitor. You can charge a convenience fee, if you really make it convenient. But currently, owners (and particularly intermediaries) of I.P. refuse to cut their price to market reality, and try to use Draconian laws and DRM to hide behind the market reality. It is difficult to propose that you can make more money sell a piece of I.P at $1 without DRM, than you can at $10 with DRM. But if you sold, say 1 DRM'ed I.P. at $10 to 100 piracies versus 20 non DRM'ed sales at $1 to 81 piracies, you get $10 for DRM I.P. versus $20 non-DRM I.P.
This is a choice for the I.P. owners. I am not optimistic that they will choose wisely.

In conclusion, I consider DRM an ineffective tool for supporting industries whose total economic reality is based upon monopoly pricing. Technology has shattered the monopoly, and it cannot be rebuilt, no matter how much effort is used. Things like DRM only annoy the customer, which erodes the goodwill that all successful businesses depend on.

Sincerely,

<Ralph Sir Edward>
Citizen and Taxpayer
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Old 01-07-2009, 10:28 PM   #6
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Here is what I wrote:
I welcome this opportunity to comment on an issue I feel has the potential to do a great disservice to not only to American consumers, but also to America as a whole.

The Constitution grants Congress the right to set, for a limited period, certain rights to use and profit from ideas via copyrights and patents. However, starting with the First Amendment, these rights have been limited by the concept of "Fair Use" where individuals, or even groups may make certain use copyrighted materials without infringing on the copyrights of the original authors.

This doctrine of fair use has been maintained for more than 200 years and until recently technology has helped broaden how individuals could exercise their right to fair use. Unfortunately, now technology, in the form of DRM is effectively stripping Fair Use rights from users of technology. Up until recently, buying a copy of a book, or a movie or a piece of music meant that you were only limited by the law in how you could use that copy of the media; you could lend it to family or friends, or in the case of movies and music, you could listen to it on the device of your choosing. Now, unfortunately, music, movies and even books (in electronic form) are being tied to specific devices. Unfortunately, it is not even always clear at the time purchase of said media (specifically with respect to movies on DVD) whether said media can even be played on the devices the consumer already owns.

Now, the questions is what benefit do companies actually gain from implementing DRM? The most compelling argument for DRM is that it stops or at least restricts piracy of copyrighted material and therefore maintained the incentive necessary for the production of new material. If such was actually the case, then one might concede that cost of DRM actually was worth the benefit. Unfortunately, even a casual examination of the internet can show that almost any media one could want can be obtained illegitimately via peer-to-peer networks. Further, as a computer professional, I can attest that any DRM scheme, that still allows the end user to access the material, can be circumvented by a group dedicated programmers. Even if perfect DRM was possible, lower quality copies could still be made through other means. Thus, tech savvy pirates will never be stopped by any sort of DRM and since the profit motivation of pirates is great, they will always end up being tech savvy in the end.

Ultimately, the only real benefit that is gained by the producers of copyrighted material is the limitation it places on consumers. DRM'd music, movies and ebooks, all but guarantees that shelf life of a particular product they sell will be limited to device it is sold for and it greatly limits the ability to share that material with others. The problem is that these gains are an erosion of "Fair Use". These gains also cost the consumer real money as they must often buy new hardware should they wish to view newer material (since, for example, newer DVDs don't always play in older DVD players because of DRM).

What is worse is that the erosion of "Fair Use" and other actions by the producers of media are such that the perceived cost of media has risen to such a degree that an entire generation of people are starting to believe that circumventing DRM and/or downloading illegal copies is perfectly acceptable. By maintaining laws that are seen as such a burden by the common citizen, our nation is establishing a citizenry who has little respect for copyright law or potentially any law.

Please do not misunderstand me; I am for the vigorous defense of reasonable copyright laws; unfortunately current laws are not reasonable and as such are becoming a serious burden to the very people whom those laws claim to serve.

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Old 01-08-2009, 06:41 AM   #7
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Here's the automated response.

Thank you for your interest in the DRM Town Hall.

The Commission will select panelists based on their expertise and on the need to represent a range of views. Parties selected to participate as panelists will be notified in early February.

Best Regards,
The DRM Town Hall Team
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Old 01-08-2009, 11:55 AM   #8
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It's really important that people speak up on this issue. Make your opinions known. I'm sure that they'll be getting comments not just from consumers like us who almost universally loathe DRM, but also from the big companies and publishers who insist that it's necessary.

Show them why it's not.
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Old 01-08-2009, 11:56 AM   #9
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perhaps someone should mention overdrive cutting off fictionwise service in their letter as an excellent example of why drm is bad for consumers and in the end encourages piracy.
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Old 01-15-2009, 08:58 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Robotech_Master View Post
It's really important that people speak up on this issue. Make your opinions known. I'm sure that they'll be getting comments not just from consumers like us who almost universally loathe DRM, but also from the big companies and publishers who insist that it's necessary.

Show them why it's not.
yes, exactly.
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Old 01-26-2009, 10:37 AM   #11
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Only a few days remain before the deadline.

If you haven't sent your comments in yet, please do so soon!
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Old 01-26-2009, 12:26 PM   #12
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Excellent. I shall write to them immediately to tell them how strongly I feel that we need to have solid, functioning Deplorable Rudeness Meters for online forums like this one that are vulnerable to severe lapses in common courtesy.

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Old 01-26-2009, 01:03 PM   #13
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Submitted today:

I would like to address the FTC's questions regarding DRM, from the perspective of a producer of copywritten materials, and as a consumer of same.

As an author and independent seller of e-books, I have studied the issue of DRM as it impacts sales and usage of my products. DRM has been used almost universally as a way to discourage the unauthorized copying and dissemination of copywritten materials, presumably to protect expected profits to the producer. The evidence in the field, however, indicates that DRM has little to no impact on unauthorized copying and dissemination of copywritten materials, due to the fact that any DRM system can ultimately be circumvented or broken (and generally is, almost immediately upon being released). As DRM is unable to fulfill its primary objective, it is at root a useless tool.

As an aside, DRM has also been used to "lock" customers into specific electronic formats, the intent being to guarantee a customers' repeated patronage of a specific source of content, and to prevent the consumers' ability to convert an electronic file to another format of preference. I submit two facts: One, that this intent is also pointless, based on DRM's ultimate inability to stay secure (as outlined in the previous paragraph); and Two, that attempting to restrict a consumer's ability to transfer a purchased electronic file to a more convenient format is essentially counter to existing laws governing Fair Use, as well as the Federal guidelines related to Accessibility to those with disabilities, to wit: DRM makes it difficult or impossible for those with disabilities to convert DRM-applied electronic files to formats that will allow them to access those documents. By this measure, DRM is essentially counter to Federal regulations, as well as being ultimately ineffectual.

As a bookseller, I have made my books available in multiple popular e-book formats, and without DRM on these books. Based on my experiences, and of the experiences of other booksellers who practice similar selling methods, consumers not only prefer such selling techniques, they actively seek them out over DRM-laden products. They buy products, and as they appreciate the openness of the sellers' sales methods, they encourage others to shop with them, and discourage the idea of unauthorized copying and dissemination of their works. After all, a bookseller who cannot profit is soon a nonexistent bookseller, and those who appreciate that bookseller's product have an incentive to see them succeed. This generates healthy sales for booksellers such as myself, and actually minimizes losses through theft as effectively as any DRM system (not completely, but there will never be zero theft, and it is pointless to pursue such an impossible goal).

Finally, as a consumer, I have witnessed firsthand the advantages of being able to buy an electronic file from one source, and convert it for use in another preferred format, through the exclusion of DRM. Electronic files and their delivery systems are not equal, and personal preference assures that individuals will choose a favorite format to enjoy their electronic files. The more enjoyable the experience, the more likely a consumer is to buy more products that can be enjoyed in that way. With the exclusion of DRM, a customer has access to more electronic materials, from more sources, that can be converted to their preferred format as desired. Therefore, excluding DRM and allowing electronic files to be converted to the format of choice is an excellent way to increase sales of electronic products from any and all sources, and increase their customer base accordingly.

So, the exclusion of DRM, which is at root an ineffective way to prevent theft, and a format-restricting mechanism that is counter to Federal guidelines for accessibility, effectively increases product usability, increases sales, and heightens enjoyability of the product for customers. There is nothing, in contrast, to suggest any benefit to DRM as a product control tool, and therefore, it should be abandoned.
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Old 01-26-2009, 03:02 PM   #14
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Steve,

That is a great letter. But, somehow I don't think the agenda of the FTC is to decide whether to use DRM or not. I think it is probably how to regulate DRM. I could be wrong. But, also, I don't think the use or non-USE of DRM is or should be regulated. Actually, my understanding is that the current DMCA is supposed to protect copyright holders that use DRM as opposed to protecting copyright... which is surley is not doing.

Does anyone know if anyone has been prosocuted and/or found guilty of viloating the DMCA?

BOb
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Old 01-26-2009, 03:23 PM   #15
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I think there's no point in discussing regulation of a technology, if it can be demonstrated that the technology itself is not worth using in the first place. At any rate, the fact that DRM cannot be secure and hinders sales suggests that any regulation is pointless.

If you note the comment wording (https://secure.commentworks.com/ftc-DRMtechnologies/), it doesn't specify commenting about regulation of DRM, just DRM in general.

Of course, if you have a different point to make, you should get it into your letter to the FTC...

Last edited by Steven Lyle Jordan; 01-26-2009 at 03:26 PM.
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