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What can I say? People have short memories... consumers, even shorter. How many people outside of techies still hold Sony accountable for the rootkit debacle? Damned few. How many ebook readers that were around before Kindle actually remember Amazon's past transgressions? Fewer than you might think. And Amazon is building off of today's customers, not yesterday's.
I'm not saying it should be this way... just that that's the way it is. Personally, I'm glad Amazon gave publishers the option to turn off DRM... I plan to, when I put my books back in, and DRM limitations will dictate which stores get my books in the future. (Take note: They did that for publishers... not consumers, for whom it is practically impossible to tell if a book is DRM'd before they buy it.)
But we all have to realize that DRM is a ghost to most consumers, rarely seen, mostly misunderstood, and not evident to them until the day they decide to leave the haunted house... and then there it is at the door, threatening them as they leave. A lot of people are going to stay in that house for years, and never, ever see that ghost. So they're going to think the warnings of a few stragglers like us, telling them not to go in, are crazy. (And as long as those warnings are largely confined to sites like this one, most people won't get those warnings.)
If you think DRM is bad... you're wasting your time saying so here. Preacher, meet the choir. No: You have to get out into the mainstream media, leave editorials at major papers and news magazines, get someone onto TV, whether it's CNN or the Daily Show, and tell everyone else. Tell the people that matter... the mass consumers. Convince them to pass on DRM'd books, and you'll convince booksellers to pass on DRM.
As long as it's just us around here, the booksellers won't have much concern over it.
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