On 2/15/07, Dave Crossland <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> What's the point, then? Well, the point of the BBC is that, by > informing, educating and entertaining everyone in the UK, the > population of the UK gains both individually and collectively to an > extent greater than the BBC's negative market impact This is a nice argument against BBC DRM, I think :-D
Let's not be un-necessarily emotive. There is no such thing as "BBC DRM", and it harms your argument to claim there is. Watch this Lawrence Lessig speech - http://lessig.notlong.com (hosted on Google Video). The coverage is pretty awful, but it's well worth watching. (Notably, you can download this video and watch it on a laptop, or an iPod video). The most interesting part of this discussion is the Q&A at the end - the last five minutes - where a speaker from the floor recommends "massive civil disobedience" to break DRM forever. Lessig disagrees. He says (and I paraphrase because I can't type that fast) - "I would not doubt the technical ability of hackers to break any DRM that there is out there. However, I would doubt their political ability to understand what happens when they do. I think we lose the opportunity to convince the hearts and minds of the rest of the world. We will lose again and again in the political context if it seems all we're trying to do is to 'get something for free'. We guarantee we will lose every single time." Think about what you're saying - and about whether talking about "BBC DRM" is going to help you win this battle... or lose it. -- http://james.cridland.net/
