[rlauzon]

Originally Posted by Bob Russell

We always tend to think of DRM as a technology that annoys consumers. And granted, that's true. But there are two other sides of DRM to remember.

I'd argue that there's only one side of DRM: the content owner's. DRM gives the owner the power to seize rights that they don't have under law. The consumer has no rights.

Originally Posted by Bob Russell

First of all, until something changes drastically, DRM actually enables us to have some e-book content that publishers would be otherwise reluctant to release.

This is the same smoke that Hollywood put out when it pushed for the Broadcast Flag. "If we can't lock up the content, we won't put it out."

Companies exist to make money. Content that sits in a vault does not make money (actually loses money as its relevance drops and the cost of the vault). Since media companies make money only by releasing content, locking it up is sort of like GM saying that unless everyone drives the speed limit, they will stop making cars.

In a capitalist economy (that we are SUPPOSED to have) any unsatisfied market is quickly filled by a company looking to make money. Any company that says "we won't release this as an eBook because we can't lock it up" simply creates an unsatisfied market and fails to take advantage of the opportunity to make money.

It's a business model issue, not a technology issue.

Originally Posted by Bob Russell

It may not be as user-friendly as we wish, and it may feel like we are renting e-novels instead of buying them. But that might just be better than nothing until we have another alternative.

You know my stand on this, so I won't go into it yet again.

But we have an alternative - it's called piracy. It's not an alternative that people like, nor is is something that most people want. But it's what happens when market forces are blocked by unnatural means (like stupid laws legislating out-of-date business models).

Originally Posted by Bob Russell

Well, how about one more side of DRM that we don't think about much... DRM for corporate uses.

That's because DRM for corporate use really doesn't impact us.

When I create a document for work, the company owns it. No one disputes that.
As a consumer, I really don't have an expectations of being able to access a corporate document (except for the manual that comes with my latest gadget).