DRM has appeared in the latest VOD offering by Odex.
On 9/7/07, Soh Kam Yung <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Copies of this article should be circulated to those who think that is > is okay to keep data in proprietary formats, support DRM or think > license servers are 'cool'. > > (http://lwn.net/Articles/246921/) > ===== > Ruminations on software freedom > By Jake Edge > August 29, 2007 > > The failure of Microsoft's anti-piracy servers over the weekend > ( > http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070827-wga-failure-highlights-major-flaw-in-microsofts-anti-piracy-strategy.html > ) > would seem an easy entree to some Redmond-bashing, but there are far > more important issues to consider. It is sometimes easy to forget > about the "freedom" in free software, but that is exactly what > protects the users of Linux and other free systems from this kind of > misfeature. Using proprietary, closed source software with a decidedly > one-sided license agreement is not wrong, per se, but should be > considered carefully – not just entered into blindly as is often the > case. > > [...] > > Microsoft is not alone in the practice of software and hardware > validation, many copy protection and license key schemes depend on > some kind of matching between the key and the hardware it is licensed > for. Other vendors snoop on their users, in the interests of cheating > prevention in games for example, and report back to central servers. > Skype was recently found to root around in Firefox profiles for > unknown (possibly benign) reasons > (http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=95261). It comes down to a > question of who controls the system, both hardware and software, that > one has purchased. > > The control issue comes in other forms as well. Proprietary data > formats are one of the current battlefields. It is rather amazing that > folks will pay lots of money to lock up their data in a format that > they will probably be unable to read in ten years time; unless they > periodically convert it to use the latest format. So-called Digital > Rights Management (DRM) is yet another control scheme that imposes > restrictions, determined by the vendor, on books, videos, music, and > the like. These restrictions are not arbitrary, the sellers try to > optimize their income by imposing constraints that won't chase away > the majority of their customers. > > [...] > > It will be very interesting to watch how the "iPod generation" reacts > when the iPod is no longer the music player of choice. All of the > music that they "bought" from iTunes will not play elsewhere. Apple > will, in all likelihood, make it as hard as possible to migrate to > another player, even if their market dominance in digital music > players has passed. Users will be left with no choice but to "buy" the > music again, which is great for the record companies, but not so much > for the users. > > Google Video users ran into the same problem recently > (http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8R675BO0.htm), their > DRM-infected videos were to stop playing after 15 August. After > initially mishandling the revocation, along with a poorly received > refund plan, Google has since relented, offering a full refund and > extending the life of the videos until February 2008. With luck, users > who have been bitten by these schemes will demand DRM-free versions > when they make their second purchase. > > [...] > ===== > -- > Soh Kam Yung > my Google Reader Shared links: > (http://www.google.com/reader/shared/16851815156817689753) > my delicious links: (http://del.icio.us/SohKamYung) > my simpy links: (http://www.simpy.com/user/kysoh/links) > > _______________________________________________ > Slugnet mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.lugs.org.sg/mailman/listinfo/slugnet >
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