Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
DRM is just another form of security, something I am pretty sure you live with every day, if you lock your house, mind traffic lights, use a credit card, own a phone or web account, and shop at stores with security cameras or guards or security strips in the products. It took time to develop that security for those things, but it was done, and people today accept them... I imagine you do too, every day. And if you can live with those, why is it so impossible to believe you could live with e-book DRM?
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There's a major difference between a lock on my house, and DRM on my ebook: I can remove the lock on my house, if I decide my home is safe enough. It exists to protect my property from other people's actions. The DRM on my ebooks, however, exists to protect my property from its owner's actions.
I don't know that I think DRM is "evil" (except in the broad sense that waste and inefficiency and deceit are evil), but it, unlike locks on my house or car, is not created for me, the owner of the product. It's created with the flawed premise that it prevents illegal copies (it slows them; it does not prevent them), and it does so by inconveniencing the legitimate purchaser--possibly to an illegal extent.
I can live with DRM. Or at least, I can live in a world with DRM, just as I can live in a world with random strip-searches at airports.
I've flown once since 9-11, and have no intention of changing that; I'm not willing to give up my personal liberty for flawed notions of security. And I don't buy ebooks with DRM for the same reason.
I put DRM in the same category as invasive searches at airports: a lot of people have been convinced this is necessary for security. I am not convinced, and take measures to avoid these limitations on my liberties. I applaud attempt to circumvent them because I don't believe they bring any real security. The more people who know how easy to bypass they are, the more will be upset at the inconveniences, and the more will either protest or take their dollars elsewhere, which is what it'll take to start finding sustainable solutions to the problems.