Quote:
Originally Posted by MrPLD
Okay, time to throw some new spin in here... I'm a publisher (my wife is the author), I'm also an Open-source developer (lots of packages) and give away a lot of stuff 'free' to the net and deal a lot with copyright/copy-protection/DRM etc etc.
Now, my view on this whole debacle is simple - as the OP says, the horse has left the barn and there is no DRM scheme that will truly protect a given electronic media (looks like BluRay just lost the fight now that the master keys are leaked). There's no DRM on any of our free or commercial productions, we just don't see the point given that we are the content producers and publishers. Copies will get out there irrespective, those who would pay will pay, those who wouldn't usually won't but it doesn't matter- we actually win out because they get exposed to our work, that's a win for marketing.
When it comes however to the situation where the content-creator and the publisher are separate entities, I can see why DRM is constantly being worked on, because the publisher wants to 'reassure' the creator that their work is protected and the creator is relying on the publisher to market the goods hence they don't look to "pirated copies" for exposure.
Perhaps my view is a bit simplified but at this point it works well for us.
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It figures only another open source developer would get what I was trying to say (and failing badly apparently). I only have one package on SourceForge but it has a respectable number of downloads, not that it matters.
There are a number of factors at work here:
First there is a new form of economic Darwinism at work. When the only way to assess the quality of an item is post-purchase, the power was completely in the hands of the publishers of the item. This applies to movies, books, music, etc. How many times have you purchased a movie or book (not so much music but the idea is the same) thanks to a bit of well-done cover art, only to find out that the content itself had nothing to do with the illustration on the cover and just plain stunk? In support of this I use the example of Frank Frazetta, one of the greatest fantasy illustrators of our time. He was quoted (well I have video of him saying it) that he rarely if ever actually read the books he made cover art for yet the books with his cover art consistently out-sold other similar titles.
Now however, with everything "out there" you are no longer seduced by a cover or other artifice and person reading/viewing/listening to the item basically can "try before you buy" and then if an item is truly worth the purchase price you can pay it. Its not how the rest of the world wants it to work or wishes it did, but at the end the day, thats what it is. No longer is it the case where one spends $20 for a movie only find it was so bad they could not even sit through a single viewing. Unless the physical material is damaged, one has no choice but to have a Coke and a Smile and get over it and eat the loss. Yet for really good material (which IMO is stuff worth repeated viewings/readings/whatever) one doesn't have a problem supporting the maker of said material financially because they want to help them to keep making more of that kind thing. The thing is, it is now largely up to the character of the consumer combined with the creator to actually produce a quality product. IOW on one hand, the out-and-out thieves will be that and never spend a dime no matter the material or situation; at the same time, no longer can purveyors of dodgy quality stuff get away with the "this stinks! Tough, you bought it, no take-backs!".
However the makers of decent material (and again, that assessment is in the mind of each individual consumer) get rewarded by consumers who like what they do and want them to keep doing it. Again, this is not how the world wants it to work but this is indeed how it is....sometimes the material is good (or at least not actively bad) and you are happy to plunk down your hard earned money and other times some title might interest you yet when you actually see/read/listen to it you go "whew! glad I didn't waste money on that turkey". In the open-source world it is a meritocracy as it is in many walks of life; you turn out crud and you earn less/get fired/whatever. I am not saying this is an absolute everywhere but this is a fact in many walks of life. For now, the choices are in the hands of the consumers. Lets take a look at those consumers:
1. Technical literacy vs Technical Illiteracy: The folks in the former camp can be broken down into three basic groups:
1a. Knows enough about how things work to pirate material and does so actively purely for the purpose of doing it with no regard for any particular regard for what is actually being traded. How else can you explain Russian or Chinese (or other) pirates actively trading Benny Goodman Orchestra songs right along side the latest Lady Gaga (or whatever) tunes? These are the folks that will never ever buy anything at any price so they are dropped from the economic equation.
1b. Knows enough about how things work to get the material (video, audio, books, whatever) when it is not available any other way. Often these folks are more selective since point is not to pirate something but the acquisition of a particular thing (like say you remember a specific movie/song/book from your childhood or whatever, long out of print, not available anywhere at any price; yet if you know where/how to look, you can acquire it within the hour). This is the group that will buy a "legal" copy of truly good works and leave the rest by the wayside.
1c. Knows just enough about how things work to be dangerous. These people tend to share the greed/never purchase traits with the first group but are little more than button-pushers and frankly get caught easily because their greed makes them try to get every imaginable thing/title out there and share it with the world but unlike the first group are sloppy about it and are swept up in the periodic (yet embarrassingly inept) sweeps by the RIAA/MPAA/BSA etc. Note that these folks are another dimension of the Darwinism I was speaking of; since they get caught and taken out of the system. Case in point: Jammie Thomas.
2. This other group is one that will never learn enough about how things work to even download a single pirated thing (and I am NOT saying that as a negative; it is just something different people could care less about). The most they know of piracy is what they read in the news and they form opinions based on that. Also, the system they grew up with (strictly over the counter purchasing, buy before you actually see what you are buying) is rigid yet comforting one to them and they find things that work any other way abhorrent at best.
Sorry for being so long-winded on a weekend morning. This is not a manifesto or anything ridiculous like that. It is simply a different perspective on things and an honest attempt to trigger conversation. Not everyone will agree with this assessment and that is cool. I have been all of these people at one time or another in my life. Now I pay full price for everything that I really want; Thats why I will have 3000 DVDs in the other room, will pay $45 for CD done by a regional artist in Australia and do so with a smile on my face; I want them to keep making more of the stuff I like. Stuff that is 'speculative' WRT quality I will check out first before buying/going to the theater. If it isn't a steaming pile I will delete them item and run down to the store for a purchased version of usually higher physical quality. By the same token, I will not even waste the bandwidth to download most (read: all) pop music, etc. The world I live in is a strange coexistence of DRM (worked for Sony and then a famous game/slot maker, both of which lean hard on the "shiny cover sells crud" model) and do open source software in my off-hours meaning I give away my work under a license which means no one will ever make a profit on it and even run a free public web service in support of it on my dime. I have little tolerance of DRM but have equally little tolerance of people who pirate for the sake of pirating. It is amusing to watch the RIAA (for example) going after the leaves of the piracy tree and missing the trunk entirely when if they were even a little smart they could take out a handful of servers and cripple the system for a long time.