Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
But until that happens, you can't just expect companies to go 180 against every business rule they've ever known. Companies, by nature, do what works... and most of them let a very few pioneers try out new things, then jump on it after it becomes an unqualified success. DRM may not be perfect, but I don't see DRM going away until the companies find an alternative that they can believe in, however good or bad that alternative may be.
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Interestingly, Tor seems to have finally been convinced to try the Baen model (no DRM, good content, service and community, moderate cost). Several other publishers seem to be testing the waters, as well. We'll see what actually happens.
I don't think anonymous internet usage is ever really going to go away, for the same reason that DRM can't succeed -- anyone who is really motivated to do so can create a false or anonymous identity online, and if the system ever becomes rigorous enough to prevent this, a parallel system will emerge (perhaps using mesh or other peer-to-peer networking).