Digital rights management - we're all grilled and toasted [The INQUIRER]

I'm upset that DRMOS/TCPA/Palladium, if adopted, means the end of general purpose computing for PCs.  But it's hard for me to articulate why that's bad, or why anybody else should care.  This Inquirer article does a pretty good job. 

And it uses a cute analogy -- replacing your general-purpose propane grill with an electronic toaster.  A toaster designed such that "not only will you be restricted to grilling bread, any bread you choose may be rejected if the toaster doesn't recognise it - because the toaster's operating system get's a kickback from their relationships with the bakeries," and which will only work when connected to the Internet so it can talk to "toaster central." 

The convicted monopolist grill manufacturer with 95% of the market is replacing its entire line of grills with these electronic toasters, and is working with the oligopoly of sliced bread bakeries to get legislation passed to outlaw propane grills!  And the bakers own all the news outlets, so you'll never hear about it.  When you put it in terms everybody can understand, it's just crazy what they're trying to get away with.

9:44:44 PM   

Another comment on my post about the New Scientist Great Giveaway article.

Okay, so music might well benefit from open source-style licensing.  Surely the same cannot be said for film.  Or can it?  Think about the deleted scenes, alternate camera angles, outtakes, and alternate takes available on many DVDs.  Imagine if every scene in the movie were packaged separately.  Anybody with (now-common) video editing software could re-edit the movie.  You could make your own "director's cut."  But is there a demand for that kind of thing?

Yes there is.  One year ago an anonymous individual re-edited Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace and released it on the Internet with the title The Phantom Edit.  Many hailed the new version -- twenty minutes shorter -- as better than the original.  The popularity of director's cuts makes me wonder how many films might benefit from re-editing.  Without open source licensing, we'll never find out.

12:38:16 AM