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Originally Posted by HarryT
But the purpose of a doorlock is not to defeat the professional criminal; it's there to tell the honest person "you're not supposed to go through this door".
DRM is the same. Its purpose is to remind the honest but perhaps misguided user who tries to copy a book for his friends, "sorry, you're not supposed to do that". Obviously it doesn't deter the person who's decided to break the law, any more than a doorlock does.
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And if it's that ineffective, what's the point of applying it?
The honest customer doesn't need DRM to remind them there are doors they aren't supposed to go through. They won't go through the doors because they are honest, and are aware they shouldn't. The dishonest customer won't be deterred by DRM.
You seem to presume that a lot of otherwise honest people might be tempted by the pirate side of the force, if going there was really easy and DRM free. You may be right, but I'd like to think you aren't.
Ultimately, I
do think that enough of the market is honest that publishers can issue DRM free books and authors can make money on them, and that piracy is a nuisance, not a disaster.
Quote:
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I'm not defending DRM; just saying why it's there. In an ideal world none of us would need to lock our doors.
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And if you
do get burgled, you probably install more locks, and ones that are harder to pick. You also make it harder for yourself to secure your premises on leaving, and get back in on return. (And God help you if you lose your keys.)
You can do the same sort of thing with DRM, with the same sort of added inconvenience for the customer. So you cut down a bit on piracy, and likely lose
more sales because your customers can't be bothered to jump through the hoops you have in place.
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Dennis