[Sigia-l] On DRM

[Olly Wright]

My girlfriend, who is unashamedly un-technical, made what to me was a  
very insightful point about DRM the other day. I'd be interested in  
what others on this list think of it.

The most standard complaint against DRM I see runs something like this:

'I paid for this content. I should be able to play it on anything I  
like, and copy it to anywhere I like'.

It's a compelling argument. However, the point she made was this:

'It's funny that people demand that the content they paid for should  
be playable anywhere. Think about how it used to be: no one would  
ever assume their vinyl record would play in their CD player, or  
their cassette tape would play on their iPod. Or that they could  
stick a VHS tape in their DVD player'. And no one thinks its easy to  
copy from one of these formats to the other either. Why do people  
suddenly think that their content has nothing to do with the format  
any more, and that the thing they buy should be playable on every  
device for all time?'

I think it is an astute observation. Somewhere in the mess of DRM  
(which I'm battling with as an IA at the moment designing a content  
distribution system), a new assumption has emerged that hasn't been  
clearly stated. That assumption is one of device-independance. We've  
crossed a line from content being connected to a certain form of  
playback, to content being convertible and playable on anything,  
anywhere. And this has become to many a priori right.

It is curious how an a priori right can emerge from something so  
obviously un-a priori as file formats and playback devices.

Olly Wright