US Copyright Office wants to know which forms of DRM should be allowed to be cracked

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by nesler

While it's a great idea for everyone here to prepare individual statements, does anyone else think that it would be worthwhile to prepare a group statement which others could support as signatories?

No. Organisations take a lot more notice of multiple individual letters than petitions, which are seen to represent special interest groups, rather than the general public.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by HarryT

No. Organisations take a lot more notice of multiple individual letters than petitions, which are seen to represent special interest groups, rather than the general public.

I certainly hope not. I'd like to think that people in positions of power are clear thinking enough to see that groups are made up of people who share an interest, and that the negative connotation of "special-interests" is held only by those who seem to think only THEIR personal interests matter, and EVERYONE ELSE'S interest is an evil "special interest."

I'm sure masses of individual letters would be great, but so would organized efforts. This is precisely why those "evil special interests" have "powerful lobbying efforts" and is why anyone who disagrees with them hates them so much. Because when people unite to pool their money, time, and effort, they are effective.

[SmokeAndMirrors]

Originally Posted by ApK

I certainly hope not. I'd like to think that people in positions of power are clear thinking enough to see that groups are made up of people who share an interest, and that the negative connotation of "special-interests" is held only by those who seem to think only THEIR personal interests matter, and EVERYONE ELSE'S interest is an evil "special interest."

I'm sure masses of individual letters would be great, but so would organized efforts. This is precisely why those "evil special interests" have "powerful lobbying efforts" and is why anyone who disagrees with them hates them so much. Because when people unite to pool their money, time, and effort, they are effective.

This. Yeah, we're a special interest. A special interest made of regular people who create and enjoy content which can be and frequently is locked with DRM. What's so bad about us being a special interest in that sense? We're the people who have to deal with this issue. What's negative about us being interested in things that apply to us? That seems like plain old common sense to me.

I'm going to send my own letter as well, but I'd love to see a petition start up.

[tubemonkey]

Too bad this thread isn't in the political section, because I'd have a comment then.

[crich70]

I think if you buy a book it should be DRM free in the sense of the present form of DRM. If it were a individual watermark that showed up on the title page of a book once you buy it or some other such that could identify the actual owner of said copy that would be far better I think.

[carpetmojo]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Too bad this thread isn't in the political section, because I'd have a comment then.

We have a political section ?

Blimey - who's the Commissar then...................

[crich70]

Originally Posted by carpetmojo

We have a political section ?

Blimey - who's the Commissar then...................

Yep, there is a separate forum for Politics and Religion. You have to ask to join it though or something as I recall otherwise you can't get in it. I forget who you contact but I'm sure one of the moderators could probably direct you if nothing else.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by crich70

Yep, there is a separate forum for Politics and Religion. You have to ask to join it though or something as I recall otherwise you can't get in it. I forget who you contact but I'm sure one of the moderators could probably direct you if nothing else.

Click the "User CP" link at the top of the screen to go to your control panel. Select "Group Memberships" from the left-side options, and join the "Hardened Debaters" group. You'll then see the "Politics and Religion" forum in the forums list, next to the "Lounge".

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by monkeyluis

I back up the books I've purchased. That is all.

And if I know I can't, I don't buy them.

[teh603]

Originally Posted by ApK

I certainly hope not. I'd like to think that people in positions of power are clear thinking enough to see that groups are made up of people who share an interest, and that the negative connotation of "special-interests" is held only by those who seem to think only THEIR personal interests matter, and EVERYONE ELSE'S interest is an evil "special interest."

I'm sure masses of individual letters would be great, but so would organized efforts. This is precisely why those "evil special interests" have "powerful lobbying efforts" and is why anyone who disagrees with them hates them so much. Because when people unite to pool their money, time, and effort, they are effective.

That works for a while. When people start turning into one-issue voters and only vote how their SIG tells them, you start having serious problems. For example, a lot of NRA members only vote for candidates listed on the NRA sample ballot, and actively refuse to look at any other issues. And that's not even touching the evil of big business PAC money.

Can we get this thread bumped a bit when the copyright office opens for submissions?

[ApK]

Originally Posted by teh603

That works for a while. When people start turning into one-issue voters and only vote how their SIG tells them, you start having serious problems.

I don't see that as a problem at all. In the case of a general election you'd tend to wind up with people elected by large groups of people who know something about issues that's important to them. If enough large groups all vote for one guy, that guy apparently represents interests that are important to a large number of people. Far better than the more likely alternative of a bunch of people who know little about any thing electing the guy who has the nicest smile.
In this case, they are only going to include a handful of exceptions, so it would seem to more effective if large numbers of people can agree on ONE exception they'd like rather than large numbers off folks all requesting their personal variant..."splitting the vote" in a sense.

[crossi]

I'm going to check out that page nov 2.

[markbot]

They should let you crack any DRM that is paired with a terms of use that together effectively prevent resale or renting out of copyright works.

[Kevin8or]

Nov. 2, but the form isn't working. Yet.

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access /1201/comment-forms/ on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

[SmokeAndMirrors]

Same issue as Kevin. 404 Not Found. Is there a new link or something? Anyone know?

Originally Posted by crich70

I think if you buy a book it should be DRM free in the sense of the present form of DRM. If it were a individual watermark that showed up on the title page of a book once you buy it or some other such that could identify the actual owner of said copy that would be far better I think.

I definitely think watermarking, or at least the concept of it, is far more reasonable and there is a real discussion to be had there. I still think it's presently a flawed system and I have a couple concerns about it - mostly having to do with the ambiguity and contradictions in the law. On the legal end, these things need to be ironed out, or NO system can ever work the way it's supposed to. I also have some privacy concerns, but this may simply be because I know less about how watermarking works than I do DRM.

But the concept is something that can be worked with. And I'd love to see that conversation really happen.

DRM, on the other hand, is an inherently flawed system and there's really no way to change that without winding up with something that's unrecognizable from present DRM.