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."
True story... (Score:4, Interesting)
Another buddy was being driven to frustration trying to edit digital video on his PC. So, my Mac friend hauls his Mac over, and they go out and buy iDVD.
Turns out that Apple has put a firmware check in the software. When you launch it, iDVD checks for an Apple DVD player, and if it doesn't find one, doesn't load.
"Ah!" My friend says, "I'll just buy a DVD burner...I wanted one anyway!"
But Apple won't sell you a bare drive. If you want a DVD burner, you have to buy a whole new Mac.
An enterprising man made software that would sit between iDVD and a 'regular' DVD burner, and make iDVD think it was an Apple drive. Apple threatened him under the DMCA, and got him to remove his software from the market.
All of us (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:money means power (Score:5, Interesting)
I have severe issues with the current incarnation of the DMCA. It's broken, it can go after that most sancrosanct of creatures, the software engineer, and it gives ridiculously strong legal protections. It's also way to abusable for things that it wasn't intended to cover, like MS using it to keep (non content-related) protocols closed. Having the government, which I pay money to, enforce laws that prevent me from writing software is objectionable to me.
OTOH, I think that DRM is a great idea. Fun, even. The satellite TV wars are, I think, one of the neatest things going. The company engineers manage to make it annoying enough that your average Joe is willing to just pay for his TV. Hackers are having a fun time competing with the engineers. It's a technical war at its finest. If the company engineers eventually come out on top, more power to them. They fought the good fight and won. Just as I support not artifically restricting the rights of someone to write copy protection bypassing software, I support the right of the TV engineers to write whatever protection software they want. This has always been the case, ranging from the days of colored watermarks to screw up Xeroxing to now.
But, you might think, digital copy protection is harder to get by than analog copy protection? Tough. It's also much easier to *copy* digital information en masse than it is to Xerox something a thousand times.
I'd like the DMCA gone, but that doesn't mean that DRM should go away.
This is just stupid (Score:1, Interesting)
I was watching the making of star wars making of type shows and there were mac's on pretty much every workstation. Now do they really want to lock down a platform that is used to create the movies (media), seems to me that that would reduce the amount of programs to use to create the content.
Is that what they really want.
Now I didn't get to read the article so I may be wrong. (it was slashdoted)
Dan
Re:Proof positive (Score:4, Interesting)
Umm... The link you posted seems to suggest otherwise. Just look at the pictures [wired.com]. The fact that you appeared to have missed this seems to suggest that YOU are not a straight man.
Re:of course (Score:2, Interesting)
In other DMCA news... (Score:5, Interesting)
There were two threads discussing next week's black friday (day after thanksgiving) sales at walmart [fatwallet.com] and target [fatwallet.com]. Since these sales haven't been advertised yet, apparently the companies thought discussing them violated the DMCA.
OT: related links (Score:2, Interesting)
not this one. it's a link for an advertisement, but quite well hidden right in there with the cotent.
sneaky slashdot. very sneaky. are we going to see these text ads inserted in the middle of our story submissions or comments soon? keywording story topcis are we?
Re:FUD (Score:1, Interesting)
So, in your opinion Apple had a "right to profit"?
How is the free markets supposed to work if you cannot sell a competing product with the same functionality at a reduced price?
Re:Not quite the case in full (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:DMCA works for "The Little Guy?" (Score:3, Interesting)
Can you give more information about CSS - there was nothing on that page that even hinted at it.
Who's key do you use? (there are a fixed number) Is the CSS authoring implemented in software or hardware? Why do they not even mention CSS on the page?
Your PC is a Playstation- contract law (Score:2, Interesting)
So the pessimistic view is that the cabal of media companies, PC makers, and Microsoft are working toward this tightly closed platform (palladium anyone?) that is impervious to hackers or anyone who hasn't bought in. The same might apply to office suites, etc. In other words, you're lucky if your hardware will run anything other than what MS/RIAA/MPA have pre-certified. Presto, your PC is a PlayStation.
Have a nice day...
Re:And conversely.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:this is /good/ for Apple (Score:3, Interesting)
It's not hard to see how non-mainstream platforms (Linux & *BSD are in the same boat with MacOS here) will be increasingly marginalized as viable consumer choices once you can no longer play any new CDs (already happening [wired.com]) DVDs (coming [cnn.com]) or other new content on them.
Apple has taken the popular stance of leaving it up to the consumer to use digital content legally (see Apple Stands Firm Agaist Cartel [siliconvalley.com]). This might increase sales for them somewhat amongst DMCA-conscious purists on Slashdot, but how many normal consumers would purchase a 'digital hub' that cannot read any of their digital content? If the Content Cartel gets their way, Apple will have no choice but to eventually adopt DMCA-compliant DRM schemes à la Palladium or go quietly into the long night.