[governance] Why HTML5 #DRM is dangerous for Free Software (was Draft Statement...)

[Chaitanya Dhareshwar]

Nobert, the example of offline purchase is again invalid in the DRM
context. Anything you buy online will always leave a usable trail -
credit/debit cards, bank transactions, any other means. So DRM in this
context brings in nothing new in the context of privacy 'loss'. Buying
books at a store or movies at a gas station with cash are always free of
this element - but anything you buy online will always be track-able even
without DRM. If you do disagree with this and believe DRM will bring in
tracking of ONLINE transactions, in a form that does not exist today please
give me a viable example of that.

As for CDM not working on your platform of choice - this is like the Xbox
game example right...? I like a racing game by the cover and choose to buy
it only to find I don't have the system required to play it. I have the
resources and capability to install the system that will let me play it,
but I *choose* not to for whatever reason so the game (or whatever) becomes
useless to me. Now this is a case for the jury but IMHO it's just a poor
assessment of usage feasibility before purchase.

It does happen where kids buy a 3D game without having a 3D
headset/eyepiece, and then don't want to buy one for 3x the cost of the
game - so the game becomes useless. Ebooks purchased on one site may not be
compatible with my reader, and I don't buy the Kindle (or whatever) needed
to read it - so the book becomes useless. I buy a windows game that doesnt
adequately work in a emulator/virtual environment - so again that's a poor *
choice* of purchase. *Not DRM's fault*. So these are not valid arguments
against DRM... :)

-C



On Fri, Jun 14, 2013 at 3:16 PM, Norbert Bollow <nb at bollow.ch> wrote:

> Chaitanya Dhareshwar <chaitanyabd at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > I think that it's very important that when cultural goods are sold
> > > rather than shared freely, it must be possible to buy without the
> > > “who bought what” information getting recorded in some kind of
> > > database.
> >
> > I say this is already being done. Moot point as DRM is not the culprit
> > here.
>
> It is true that it is already being done quite independently of DRM for
> example in the context of physical books bought from Amazon.
>
> But physical books can also be bought in ways that do not involve
> creating such a data trail. (At least as long as there is a physical
> bookstore near where you are which has the book that you want in the
> shop, and you pay cash, and you don't use a “customer loyalty” card when
> buying it.)
>
> That is not likely to be possible for DRM'd electronic books, videos,
> etc. Hence I consider this issue a valid argument against DRM.
>
> > > In my opinion, it is not plausible to expect the CDMs to be made
> > > available for Free Software operating system platforms. (Doing so
> > > would make it trivially easy to defeat what that whole architecture
> > > with the CDMs is seeking to achieve.)
> >
> > Doing so will not prevent the FS community from utilizing the
> > resources/material that have been rightfully purchased;
>
> If I rightfully purchase something and get it in encrypted form, but
> the relevant Content Decryption Module (CDM) doesn't run on the
> computer that I use, that is supposed to be pretty effective in
> preventing me from accessing the content that I've purchased.
>
> > The key reason I'm against DRM is here:
> [snip]
>
> I agree with all of that.
>
> Greetings,
> Norbert
>
> --
> Recommendations for effective and constructive participation in IGC:
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