I’m a frequent reader of various tech-related sites, such as Digg, Slashdot, and OSNews. Many of these sites carry stories about DRM (and related) technology. Inevitably there will be 2 types of users. The anti-DRM crowd, and the anti-piracy crowd. Many of the anti-DRM crowd appear to be anti-DRM over ideological ideas. Many of the anti-piracy crowd think believe that anyone who is anti-DRM is a pirate.
There are very few like me that appear to be in the anti-DRM crowd but not over ideological reasons. And contrary to the anti-piracy crowd, I am not anti-DRM because I am a pirate. I am anti-DRM because I’m not a pirate, and the media companies have hijacked my rights. If I buy a cd, I can rip it with iTunes and listen to it on my TiVo using the TiVo Desktop software. When I buy music from iTunes I don’t have this functionality.
Some will say that buying a cd is different than buying from from iTunes. But wait, what does Apple tell you if you lose your music and didn’t properly create a backup? Too bad! Buying from the Apple store is the same as buying a cd, lose it and you have to buy another. So where am I left? I lost a feature, and gained nothing. I don’t think this is good for the consumer.
Now that doesn’t bother me that much. What does bug me is that had I been a pirate, I would have my music in a higher bit-rate and would be able to listen to my music via the TiVo Desktop software. All the current system does is punish the consumer and reward the pirates.
Granted this example is only about the iTunes music store, but think about this. Everyone considers the iTunes music store to be one of the most liberal of DRM. I can only imagine what the world will be with the HD-DVD and BluRay systems that will phone home and render themselves inoperable.
In the recent years big media has done a fabulous job buying Congress (and in turn laws) that will take away every citizen’s rights. It’s time we send a message to Congress. IPac has been created to do just that. They are a group that targets Congress, much like EFF helps in the courts. If you are worried about how badly DRM is being crammed down every citizen in the US’s throat, please donate to the IPac