[advocacy] DRM in OGG - A Proposal

[Tim Ivorson]

> > AIUI it should be possible to completely disable hardware support for TCPA
> > systems (like Palladium), the only (negative) side-effect being that you
> > won't be able to access audio/video/pictures/text that has been designed to
> > require a TCPA system.
> 
> We will have to see how much difference that makes in practice - even if it is 
> possible to disable, it might not be feasible for the average user. As for 
> the commercial copyright infringers, do we believe that they will simply 
> close down their businesses? Seems unlikely - more likely is that they will 
> invest substantially in breaking TCPA, and they can afford to. 

Of course, DRM and copy-protection for audio can never work, because analogue copies, which will not be encumbered by DRM/copy protection (and so can be reproduced digitally), can be easily be made.

> Based on my experience of DRM systems so far, it's not the kind of music that 
> I want to listen to that is most affected. Robbie Williams (singer) just 
> signed a supposed 80 million pound deal for five or six albums with EMI - you 
> can bet that some form of DRM figures in EMI's plans to make a profit on 
> that.

It's true that DRM is unlikely to be applied to all music. Of much greater concern to me is the complaints from the recording industry against the methods of getting music from unsigned artists, such as peer2peer networks. If all of the p2p networks (and a few other methods of distribution) disappear, it won't just be unauthorised copies of music published by aggressively 'anti-piracy' record companies that become unavailable. It seems to me that this is much more important to vorbis than advocating/attacking DRM.
 
> For those of you who think DRM=always bad, consider that the GNU GPL is a form 
> of DRM. It manages the rights of both authors and users of digitally stored 
> information, in this case usually source code and binaries rather than audio 
> and video. The enforcement is by legal threat over copyright infringement, 
> although it rarely actually goes to court.

That's true, but the main complaint about DRM doesn't apply to software licenses. The GLP doens't prevent you from exercising exemptions from copyright granted by law.

Tim Ivorson
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