On Tue, 13 Aug 2002, James A. Donald wrote: > To me DRM seems possible to the extent that computers themselves > are rendered tamper resistant -- that is to say rendered set top > boxes not computers, to the extent that unauthorized personnel are > prohibited from accessing general purpose computers.
But even then, if it's perceptable to a human in some form, it can be copied. Suppose it's displayed on a screen in english and copied with a pencil in Japanese, then sent by unicode across the planet. I agree it'd be mighty hard to copy pictures from a set top box at video frame rates by hand, but there are many musicians who can hear a song once and play it again perfectly. All it takes is one person who has valid access and they can copy anything. It may take a lot of expensive equipment and be hard to do, but they don't have to crack anything, they can just copy the human perceptible data onto a machine that doesn't have any DRM crap. This is what makes the whole "analog hole" idea idiotic. Humans are analog - they can copy the data! To plug the "analog hole" Hollywood will have to control every human mind directly. > To me, TCPA only makes sense as a step towards some of the more > monstrous outcomes that have been suggested by myself and others > on this list. It does not make sense as a final destination, but > only as a first step on a path. Yeah, it sure seems obvious to me too. I think preventing that first step is mighty important. Patience, persistence, truth, Dr. mike
