Quote:
Originally Posted by LazyScot
I'm not convinced DRM is necessarily bad, just that the way it is currently being used is taking too much from the readers.
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That's it in a nutshell: DRM is not, in itself, bad. It is many of its variants that are upsetting customers.
But customers have to accept some responsibility for the situation, too. We actually put up with equally restrictive rules tied to other purchases. But because the world continues to hang onto the Wild West mentality of the present web, many of us resist even the lightest security steps as "attacks to personal and global Freedom." Thus, DRM in all its forms is automatically labeled EVIL and hung without a trial, and the web townsfolk dutifully come out and throw rotten fruit at it.
It's because of this Wild West mentality that businesses have so little hard data to use when figuring web-based loss and developing security systems. Due to customers' adamant desire for privacy and unlimited access, there is often no way to collect useful data on transactions. So businesses, which base all of their operations on accurate sales, expenses and net profit data, only know that there are sales when they are looking, and losses when they turn their backs, and no way of knowing exactly who or how much of either.
A more secure web could get that data, and businesses could make more informed decisions. Without security, businesses are basically putting their wares out at night, turning the lights off and hoping there's money left on the counter when the products are gone in the morning. In that light, it's no wonder that businesses over-react by placing restrictive rules on purchases.
I don't know how businesses are supposed to make rational decisions about anything without data. They can guess, and they can blindly trust customers not to take advantage of them. But human nature has shown that people rarely pass up an easy chance to take something they don't have to pay for, so that trust only goes so far.
Businesses have to at least be prepared to take some preventive steps to make sure stealing isn't easier than buying. But they also have to know when the steps they are taking are too much... placing a bear-trap at the candy-counter to stop $20 worth of lost sales a month, which most people would consider a bit extreme...