Changing The Debate On Digital Rights Management

from the changing-the-debate dept

Once again, it seems that the entertainment industry insists on shooting itself in the foot. They're working to change the debate on digital rights management products. Instead of "should we have DRM?", they've now shifted the debate to what kind of digital rights management would be okay? In other words, by assuming that, of course, everything needs digital rights management, they're sneaking by the fact that any DRM could impact users fair use rights. After talking about all sorts of draconian DRM methods for a few years, now they're coming back with what are described as "squishy" or passive DRM tactics - such as putting a digital fingerprint on every file you create. This way, when the RIAA decides to sue specific users, they just need to look at who created the latest MP3 from Britney Spears latest album, and throw that guy in jail.

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