DMCA bad for Apple Users 304
Aguazul writes "TidBITS has published a really strong article on the DMCA and on how this is bad for Apple users, with some good links and suggestions for action. The author, Adam Engst, is regularly voted the most influential person in the Mac world outside of Apple, so this is a serious wake-up call to Apple users everywhere."
money means power (Score:1, Insightful)
Not quite the case in full (Score:4, Insightful)
Can't we all get together on this just for once?
of course (Score:4, Insightful)
Now if they can't use some existing copyrighted work in private to flex their creative muscles, they won't be creative anymore...
(I wrote "is known as", it doesn't mean I actually endorse this vision)
DMCA works for "The Little Guy?" (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:DMCA works for "The Little Guy?" (Score:5, Insightful)
DMCA bad for Apple users? (Score:5, Insightful)
What I find funny is how the author thinks that because Apple doesn't have a DMCA-capable OS, that is going to miss out on the "next big thing". I don't know about everyone else, but I am actively encouraged by Apple's stance. Yes, "don't steal music", but no, don't fsck users simply to placate the gorillas in the MPAA and RIAA. Until a system comes along that lets people who have legitimately bought CDs to "rip mix burn", Apple are firmly on the side of the users. Unlike the MPAA and RIAA, they give a shit about their customers.
Anyway, as a result of MS's stance, I look forward to the article about "how the DMCA is bad for windows users".
Also, now is as good a time as any - get your ass over to the Copyright Office [copyright.gov] and let them know how the DMCA has legitimately infringed on your fair use rights. They've just opened up to submissions: "The purpose of this rulemaking proceeding is to determine whether there are particular classes of works as to which users are, or are likely to be, adversely affected in their ability to make noninfringing uses due to the prohibition on circumvention"
-- james
Think different, sahib (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:True story... (Score:4, Insightful)
That's called "bending the truth". For your friend to have had a possession of iDVD without having purchased a mac with a DVD burner in built, he must have pirated the software.
Apple's application of the DMCA wasn't because he had modified the software. It was because his need to modify the software arose only due to pirating iDVD.
Apple's application of the law in this instance is entirely defendable.
-- james
Re:True story... (Score:2, Insightful)
Voting with money does not work (Score:5, Insightful)
Thought so.
Consumers cannot vote with their money because the elections are rigged by false advertising. How many people, for instance, know about the effects of DRM and DMCA? How many of those few know that those laws are, in fact, bad for the customer? Ironically the coming DMCA of the European Union is named and openly hyped as a "consumers' right bill". Yeah, it's about consumers' rights alright. Taking them away, that is.
Re:True story... (Score:3, Insightful)
To keep this slightly on-topic, I think it's great that Apple is taking a stand (haven't read the article,
There are no nice companies. IBM might support Linux and play by the rules, but their just looking after their market share.
Re:money means power (Score:2, Insightful)
But if the content protection is effective, then these companies don't need any legal help.
Therefore we don't need the DMCA.
Q.E.D.
Re:True story... (Score:5, Insightful)
To be perfectly honest, this is the real reason that they asked the update to be pulled. Kinda comes back to Apple's mantra - if it can't work reliably, it can't work. They didn't want iDVD etc out there with a whole lot of untested DVD burners.
It was pulled after a whole lot of support issues cropped up on the Apple support website. Which is fair enough.
-- james
Re:True story... (Score:4, Insightful)
The thing is the software does not support other drives. If another manufacter wants to sell a DVD burner then they have to either do one of two things if they want it to work with Macs.
1. Write their own
2. License someone else (even iDVD). No one has obtained a license to bundle iDVD therefore it is not sold or supported to work with it.
Re:Down ALREADY? (Score:3, Insightful)
It doesn't surprise me at all that it would go down fast under a vigorous slashdotting, but not because it's run on Macs but because it's run about Macs.
Servers cost money. So anyone building a website will try to use the minimum server power they can get away with. Microsoft will run massive banks of servers because they expect lots of people to connect to them for security patches, bug fixes, security patches, product information, bug fixes, technical support, and security patches.
So here's TidBITS, a site run for the Apple community (which is admittedly small), which only expects traffic from those people who use and appreciate Apples. So they run it on just a few machines. They normally only need one or two.
But then they posted a general interest story, someone told Slashdot about it, and boom! Instant DoS Attack! Find me a one-machine server that has that kind of instant scalability, and I'll buy one.
Re:True story... (Score:3, Insightful)
Small Dog knows better.
OWC has done some stupid things in the past.
Comment removed (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:True story... (Score:5, Insightful)
You can't buy iDVD without buying a new Mac either. So your friend probably pirated iDVD.
Apple sells Macs. That's how they make money. As an incentive to buy a high-end Mac, Apple throws iDVD in as a free pack-in with systems that have a DVD burner. Apple doesn't include iDVD with every Mac, just the ones with DVD burners. iDVD(unlike the rest of the i-apps) is not free. Apple didn't invest their money in developing iDVD just to have a thousand other companies give it away with DVD drives that take sales away from Apple's bottom line.
If you want a DVD burner, get one from Pioneer($400). If you want encoding software, Apple is more than happy to sell you DVD Studio Pro, which works with any DVD burner($1000). If you want DVD burning software, Roxio has a kickin' version of Toast 5($100). Just don't expect to get freebies when you haven't paid your dues. The above solution will only cost you $1500. A new Mac with DVD burning capability can cost as little as $1000(check ebay [ebay.com] or smalldog [smalldog.com] for an old G4/733 system with a SuperDrive).
Problem #2: Editing video.
You don't need iDVD to edit digital video.
What you really needed was iMovie, which is included for free with every Mac. It's also available for download from Apple.
Then you can burn VCD's with Toast or dump the video back to the PC and burn with whatever PC burning software you like.
Problem #3: Replacement parts.
Apple sells replacement parts, including SuperDrives.
If you wanted one that badly, and wanted it to work with your questionable copy of iDVD, then you should've gotten a "replacement" SuperDrive.
Of course, this wouldn't be cheap, but at least it would work. And you'd have to pay Apple for their product. What a concept.
Problem #4: Entitlement.
You assume Apple owes you something. They don't.
Apple makes the whole widget. If it breaks, get a replacement part. If you just want to upgrade, well, go buy a new widget. It's their business, and it seems to pay rather well. Get over it. They don't owe you a damn thing. Especially not when you're expecting them to give their livelihood away for free.
Problem #5: The DMCA.
The DMCA is a problem.
Of course, in this instance, the DMCA was doing exactly what it was supposed to do - protect a copyrighted work. Software is a copyrighted work, iDVD included. If Apple(who owns the copyright) says that you can't use it that way, then you can't use it that way! It's their decision. There was a validity check in the software. To bypass that without permission from the copyright holder is wrong. (This applies to DVDs too, since you can make a bit-for-bit copy as a backup, and you can still use it on your PC. You can even make a disk image. You just can't break CSS.)
The End...
I'm sorry if this sounds a bit harsh, but it's rather irritating to see all these jackals leeching off of one of the few companies that's actually trying to do something right(or at least different). Support them with your dollars if you want to use their product. If you don't want to pay, don't use it.
Matt
Re:money means power (Score:3, Insightful)
Skewed Summary (Score:2, Insightful)
Read the source folks.
Why the copyright cartels have the advantage... (Score:5, Insightful)
Knowing this, they happily accept money from the cartels, because money does help win elections. Outside of their own internal ethics on the matter, what possible reason would a politican have to ever go against the copyright cartels on legislation?
Right now there is a bill being put before congress to take some of the nastiness out of the DMCA. Is this going to get passed? No. It's a noble effort, and I applaud it, but the copyright cartel likes things the way they are and will write nice checks to make sure that it stays that way.
We have two hopes for salvaging copyright going forward. The first is that finally the general public will realize what's happening and make this an issue. This likelyhood seems small because most people see copyright as a really minor issue in the grand scheme of things (and they may very well be right on that matter).
The second hope is that this can be battled on constitutional grounds in the courts, but this seems a dim hope too. I have my fingers crossed about the Eldridge case, but beyond that, fighting in the courts becomes a very defensive situation. We end up with copyright law that's not AS bad, but we don't end up with something that's actually good.
Not An Important Issue for Majority (Score:5, Insightful)
The DMCA and DRM are not mainstream political issues and, most likely, will never be mainstream. That is, elections will not be decided by candidates' stance on this single issue. It just isn't that important to most people.Before someone launches a derogatory rant about the "stupidity" of the American voter, ask yourself why someone with two kids and a mortgage should worry more about copying CD's than about taxes, schools, roads, police protection, etc.
Re:Voting with money does not work (Score:2, Insightful)
this is /good/ for Apple (Score:2, Insightful)
So what if Apple hardware/software doesn't support DRM? This can possible increase sales for Apple.
Right now everyone is using PCs because they have good performance and they're cheap. But if all PCs have DRM/Palladium/etc. and you don't want that, where will you go? Apple (and Sun, Alpha if still around).
It becomes a choice of losing your rights, or going to another hardware platform. I for one wouldn't mind have a PowerPC (overpriced though they are). Of course you could simply have a PC but run an OS (Linux, *BSD?) that doesn't support all that DRM crud and live outside of the "controlled" world. Which I, for one, wouldn't mind doing.
Email, web, Ogg Vorbis and StarOffice (LaTeX for me). What else do you really need? (Well maybe "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" (now under FreeBSD!).)
Re:True story... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:DMCA bad for Apple users? (Score:5, Insightful)
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the idea of the DMCA-capable OS to provide a secure "bed" for media? And if you're really not doing too much with "media" on your computer -- on whatever platform you have -- then what's the big deal?
I'm wring a novel. I could give a shit about whether or not I have a DMCA-capable OS. And when I want music, I have my Ipod. Yeah, I ripped my stuff into the Ipod, but they're my CDs, and I did the ripping. What's the big deal? And what does this have to with my DMCA-incapable OS?
Nothing.
Microsoft looks to be pursuing "media on the pc" in all its guts and glory. They've invested their billions into developing a secure infrastructure so that Hillary and Jack can rest easy at night. Problem with this is that if I'm a user who doesn't use the "media" options on a PC much -- if at all -- then these DMCA-capable OS have nothing to offer me because I'm not breaking any laws. I'm simply writing my papers, writing my novel, writing my short stories. I read email, browse websites, and grab whatever porn I need to get myself excited with I'm sad.
What I need is a box that lets me word process, balance my checkbook, and ignite my rocks when the rocks need igniting. None of this -- even the dumb porn -- has anything to do with Hillary or Jack or the RIAA or the MPAA.
And for god sake, I don't need to spend $199 every year for a new operating system just so Hillary and Jack can be assured by the pinhead suits at Microsofts that if I try to rip a fucking Justin Timberlake CD, I'll get all sorts of errors and skips and I'll be forced to chuck out more money for another CD.
Well, fuck Jack, fuck Hilary, and fuck Justin Timerberlake. I will not purchase new CDs -- ever. Ever again. And if I buy a CD -- and I just bought the new collection by Chris Whitley -- I'm gonna buy it used and on ebay. Sure, it's already been bought once, but I'll be goddamned if I'm gonna buy another CD when I *know* I can the damn thing for five bucks used -- and I know that the money I spend to buy it used, won't be paying for Valenti to go out and golf with my congressperson.
Here's a news flash to Microsoft. Your next big thing is not my next big thing. I got a housefull of deadtree books -- thousands of 'em -- and when I want a goddamn big thing I sit down, grab one off the shelf, and read the latest from Cormac McCarthy or dig up my ratty copy of 'Nostromo' or find that kickass new translation of the 'Iliad' that sounds like something Quentin Tarantino might have translated.
My goddamn big things don't have to do with cutesy boy-bands or stupid movies. If I want to see a movie, I'll go and see a movie. I'll actually get away from my computer, drive in my car, and pay my six bucks or whatever I need to pay to see Eminem do his thing or Johnny Knoxville and Wee Man do there's. I don't need a goddamn DMCA-capable OS to do this, and while I abhor the idea of giving Valenti any more cash to line his pockets, I *do* like movies, and I'm not gonna let the aged Valenti put a kink in my fucking lifestyle.
So take your goddamn "big things" and stuff 'em. I don't need 'em, don't want 'em. I'll figure them out for myself, thank you.
Is this flame-bait? Off-topic? I dunno. Mods have a way of not liking much of what I say when I say it like this.
Whatever.
Re:Voting with money does not work (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:You *can* legally buy a copy of idvd (Score:4, Insightful)
i did. and, of course, it's very tough to find some fine print that says it requires a super drive.
Yeah, very tough. I mean, you'd have to read the FAQ or the item description at the Apple Store.
From the iDVD FAQ [apple.com]:
When it comes to burning DVDs, iDVD 2 is designed to work only with the iMac and Power Mac G4 computers with SuperDrive. DVD Studio Pro can be used with the SuperDrive as well as with third-party DVD-R drives on Macintosh computers that don't ship with a DVD-R drive.
Can I use iDVD 2 with other CD-R or DVD-R drives?
No. iDVD 2 is designed to work only with the Apple SuperDrive available on certain configurations of iMac and Power Mac G4 computers.
From The Apple Store [apple.com]:
System Requirements
Apple is obviously trying to hide this information by putting it in plain sight, those damn sneaky bastards...
apple has a nifty os & apps just to sell the hardware. just like m$ has a crappy os to sell office software..
Yes, and McDonald's uses free toys to sell Happy meals, and Sports Illustrated uses the swimsuit issue to sell magazine subscriptions, and cereal manufacturers use toys and junk to sell puffed corn and/or colored marshmallows, etc. The difference between all of these (Apple included) and Microsoft is that freebies that people actually want are being used as a competitive advantage instead of monopoly power. And this is the way things are supposed to work - convince me to buy something by offering something I actually want. Apple clearly has it right, because lots of people seem to want to use iDVD. It's not Apple's fault that you went about getting it the wrong way.
DMCA's Power (Score:2, Insightful)
The answer falls into two catagories:
Create a substancial work and distribute it through your own channels. Create your own media network. Go out and create the PR channels. If you decide to go this route please do yourself a favor, keep your day job.
The second solution is more managable by us geeks. We don't put up with it. Who works at Best Buy? Who is the company computer guy that gets all of the computer questions? Who comes up with the technology that the rest of us try to illegally circumvent? Geeks. It is us. All we need to do is explain to consumers that DVD2 with super-CSS is a bad thing.
Then point them to the EFF and any of the anti-DMCA web sites.
In the movie "A Bugs Life" we were taught that a bunch of ants can destroy even the toughest bugs, no matter how tough they are.
--Chris Turvey
Yes, and... (Score:4, Insightful)
As an aside, another effect of the CSS contracts is also to move the entire issue from the world of copyright law, where there is at least some presumption of needing to benefit the public, into the world of contract law, which doesn't give a damn about the public good. If this continues to the logical extreme, the concept of copyright, and unauthorized access to any content, could be locked up forever in simple contracts that lie underneath a trusted system's technologies, all backed up by the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions.
This is not an aside, this is the point of the exercise. If you imagine the cartel is not thinking on this level you didn't have your wheaties this morning.
bad for All, Apple first good example. (Score:3, Insightful)
I read him a little different than you did, it's not the next big thing, it's survival he's worried about. He has realized is that Apple as a creative platform is doomed if the "Content Cartel" has it's way. He understands that everyone loses when content can not be coppied because it perishes and we are all that much poorer in the future. He also tells us the currently proposed means of achieving the goal of copy protection also furthers goals of entrenched content providers by limiting the number of new entrants through propriatory formats, patents and the DCMA's anti-circumvention clause. What he's put together from all of those broad, bad for everyone laws and methods, is very specific bad news for a company like Apple who's market has primarily been the artisians that create in the first place. He has realized that Apple is getting put on the outside of the "copy enabled" world because Apple represents too large a source of likely competition to the Cartel.
It's hypocritical of Apple to wake up now after so many years of feeding the cartel that will eradicate them. For years Apple has been more expensive than other computer platforms because, in part, they were paying licensing fees for the privalidge of creating works of art in propriatory formats. The time to object was long ago when the deviding lines were made between those who could create and those who could not. By pushing its own patents and copyrights, Apple has strengthened the had that now threatens to crush it.
The obvious solution the author overlooked is free software and formats. He does not even mention them as he wallows in the "artist must be paid" logic that inevitably favors the cartel. From the Rosetta stone to VisiCalc, the authors were paid to create. The conditions the authors worked under were determined by the society they lived in. If we seek to screw others and think it's right to do so, we can expect to be screwed. When we seek to exclude, we create the conditions of our own exclusion.
You omitted the PayPal link (Score:4, Insightful)
Why did you take out the PayPal link at the end? Especially in an article about the content cartel dinosaurs. Here it is again:
If you liked this article, go ahead and send the guy a few bucks. You accomplish TWO goals with you donation: 1) you prove that voluntary payments work, and 2) you make a donation to the EFF (you know, the one you've been meaning to make for a long time now).
I sent him a few bucks already.
wake-up call for Apple users??? (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, current trends and schemes are bad for Apple users in that Apple has been railing against the methods championed by DMCA supporters. But it's bad for everyone [in its current state]. PC users are "OK" because M$ will strip them of any rights right under their noses and lock them into whatever scheme they get paid the most to support.
Wake up EVERYone. Not just Apple users.
Application of copyright law... (Score:4, Insightful)
I can't for the life of me remember where this quote came from, but it's true. If they start going after every kid with some mp3s of his favourite band instead of concentrating on those with 50GB music, film, pr0n
It's a shame that it will take things like that to initiate the public backlash, but rest assured, it will happen.
We can only hope that it starts before it's too late.
Re:DMCA works for "The Little Guy?" (Score:2, Insightful)