Quote:
Originally Posted by Moejoe
And even after all that, isn't the simplest rule of all the best to go by? Why make something more complicated than it has to be?
|
Even ignoring all that, the simplest rule isn't always the best to go by. Leaving products unprotected usually leads to theft... which is exactly what is happening to e-books. That is a simple fact.
Companies have to protect their product from loss through theft, or they go out of business, plain and simple. E-book customers (especially those here, on what is possibly the most popular e-book dedicated site in the world) seem to delight in saying "If I can't get it, I'll steal it... it's
easy," which only sets off publishers and makes them concerned over loss, making them want to strengthen DRM against "pirating" customers.
Acting like the only existent forms of DRM in the world are akin to fixing a watch with a mallet is only being obtuse about the issue.
It is simply not true. There are plenty of examples of screwdrivers out there that could do the job to everyone's satisfaction... they just have to be developed for this one industry (about the only one left that hasn't managed to do so).
But most importantly, even those screwdrivers have to be accepted by the public, instead of constantly whining that any and all DRM is EVIL and demanding unrealistic services from for-profit companies.
I'm not saying publishers don't have to change their expectations of the realities of the market... they do. But so do customers. It's a new day, it's a new product... and we all have to learn a new way to buy it, to use it, and what we can't do with it.
Some level of security (always imperfect, but reasonably effective in mitigating loss) can easily be a part of that, if it is executed properly. But if customers refuse to cooperate, even to the extent of providing useful feedback (which means something more constructive than "it stinks"), the only forms of security publishers will apply will be poorly-designed and overly-harsh, making it harder on all of us than it has to be.