Obviously, these issues have been very thoroughly discussed by Corey Doctorow and Larry Lessig. DRM has not proved to be effective at safeguarding intellectual property. It seems to be most effective as a tool in maintaining limited monopolies, since it stops other companies from investing in creating products compatible with existing products.
If you insert a lame "DRM" module into a toner cartridge, you can sue anyone that makes cheaper compatible components for breaking your DRM. The use of DRM sure has not been effective in stopping music, video, or video game piracy. It seems that the basic idea behind many of these arguments is that all intellectual pursuits that are not driven solely by the profit motive are of low quality. For example, the novels of Franz Kafka and Jean Genet are lowbrow. While profit driven art, like 50 Shades of Grade, is what will advance the world's aesthetics. -- Too many emails? Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password by emailing moderator at [email protected] or changing your settings at https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech
