Part 2 in a 2 part series of questions regarding DRM and public speaking...

November 8, 2007 8:11 AM

Part 2 in a 2 part series of questions regarding DRM and public speaking...

In my last question, I asked the hive mind to help me properly word my purpose statement for my persuasive speech on why people should stay away from DRM'd music.

Now, it's time to write the speech. The audience that I am speaking to is not necessarily tech savvy, so I want to try and stay in layman's terms as much as possible, but I know technical details are unavoidable.

So, AskMeFites, gives me your best sources and information on DRM you can find.

*Bonus* I also need to have some sort of aid, be it visual, auditory, etc. I'm kinda stuck on this one. Ideas?

posted by zacharyseibert to Technology (8 answers total)

for a visual -

glue a cassette into a walkman.
- can't listen on the system you'd like
- hard to share with friends
- not future proof
etc

(radiohead actually did this in 1997 when sending out advances of 'ok computer'.)
posted by noloveforned at 8:14 AM on November 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

What I think is amazing about DRM and copyright in general is the fine line between art, interpretation, and copyright. Example: when the deCSS code was released, the furnishers were sued by lots of people, but specifically the MPAA. They lost. To raise money for their battle, they released the code as white text printed on black t-shirts. They got sued again. That time they won because it was free speech and free expression. Interesting because it's the SAME CODE, and neither were executable. Same goes with big pharma and their patents ramping up prices, etc. That doesn't really help, but I think I would ask questions.

Suzy, is it legal for you to let Sam borrow your CD? (yes)
Suzy, is it legal for you to let Sam borrow your MP3?(no)
Suzy, is it legal for you to burn a copy of a CD? (Yes)
Suzy, is it legal for you to make a mix CD from mp3's you've purchased or ripped from your own CD? (Yes)
Suzy, is it legal for you to give that CD to a friend? (No)
Suzy, is it legal for you to loan a friend your iPod for their workout? (Yes)
Suzy, is it legal for your friend to install a co-op of iTunes on their computer and load your MP3's on it? (No)

etcetera ad infinitum.
posted by TomMelee at 8:24 AM on November 8, 2007

To go further:
Suzy, is it legal to rip a DVD you own to your iPod? (not anymore)
Suzy, is it legal for you to convert a movie you bought on iTunes to a DVD and play it in your DVD player? (not anymore)
Suzy, is it legal for you to record music over the air? (currently unknown, see Sirius vs RIAA)
Suzy, is it legal for you to install something like Jinzora and use it to listen to your music at work? (yes)
Can you broadcast it through your store? (no)
Suzy, would you buy a car that can only run on Exxon gas?
Would you buy a phone that had a giant fanboy following but only was available on AT&T?
Would you buy a TV that only showed ABC?
Sorry, I'll stop now.
posted by TomMelee at 8:28 AM on November 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

It's video DRM, but for a specific example: apparently anybody who 'bought' MLB games in 2005, is now locked out of them completely. See this article for more details, but basically (from that linked site):

"Background: Beginning in 2003, MLB offered fans the chance to download full games to their computer at $3.95 each. When you attempted to open the media file -- either on your hard drive or after it was burned to a CD -- it connected with a MLB.com webpage to obtain a license. Once the license had been verified, the game would play."
...
"At some point during 2006, MLB deleted that essential webpage. Since then, none of the videos that fans purchased will play."

posted by inigo2 at 8:45 AM on November 8, 2007

I bought ebooks with DRM that "phoned home" to a server every time I used them.

Then the company went out of business.

Now - the only way I can access the material I paid for is if I break the law (well, I'm in Canada - so, maybe not) and reverse-engineer the files.

Or - more ebooks. At work, we have an ebook lending library which lets us check out a few at a time. To a single machine - so, if I'm VPN'd in on my desktop and check books out, I cannot later copy them to my laptop. And I cannot re-download them to my laptop, without first checking them in.

My wife regularly buys audio books from Audible. They are DRM'd an in Apple-format. I do not use an iPod, I prefer MP3/OGG devices - so, now I can never listen to the content we paid for. (Hypothetically - we have a buncha iPods and stereo hookups)
posted by jkaczor at 9:06 AM on November 8, 2007

You've most likely already seen it, but there is a great post on Wired's music blog titled How to Explain DRM to Your Dad.
posted by broady at 9:29 AM on November 8, 2007

For an auditory aid, find a mashup you like that includes cuts from really well-known songs. Dangermouse's Gray Album is a well-known example (partly because of the IP shitstorm it sparked), but there are lots of others. I happen to be a fan of DJ Earworm.

Play this mashup, at least enough so the audience can get the gist of it. Explain that mashups are a relatively new thing (although the idea of quoting other works of music is hardly new), and would be impossible or very difficult in a pervasive DRM regime. DRM would short-circuit a new approach to music entirely.

Here's a visual one. Bring a laptop and a commercial DVD. Play the DVD. Try to take a screenshot while the movie is playing. You'll get a blank field where the movie's window is. DRM. Now, there are lots of legitimate uses for a screenshot of a movie--in fact, I can imagine legitimate uses more easily than illegitimate ones. But the DVD consortium won't let you.

Here's one that's a little esoteric, but I'll mention it anyhow. I'm a Japanese translator. I get a lot of source documents as PDFs, which can be DRM'd, and sometimes they are. If I see an unfamiliar kanji in one, I might want to look it up in my electronic dictionary. Normally this would just be a copy-paste operation, but if the PDF has DRM, I cannot copy. Not. One. Lousy. Character. Not the end of the world, but irksome.

DRM is a blunt instrument. It cannot distinguish between fair use and infringement, and typically enforces maximalist restrictions "just to be on the safe side." The policies being enforced by DRM don't necessarily have anything to do with what's legal or illegal, just what the copyright owners have decided on. They frequently make legally protected uses impossible—and in countries with laws like the DMCA, illegal to boot.
posted by adamrice at 9:38 AM on November 8, 2007

You could try argument by analogy. What if, when your house was built 50 years ago, all the light fixtures were made by one company. Further suppose that there was some (magical) way for them to check, each time you try to turn the lights on, and make sure you're the owner of those light fixtures. Not so bad, as long as a) you're the original owner of the house and b) their system keeps working. But what if, in the intervening 50 years, they went out of business? Or you sold the house to someone else? Now the lights won't come on, even though nobody's trying to screw the company that made the fixtures in the first place.
This begins to get into the economic argument, which is that if you do buy DRM you should never pay as much as for non-DRM. Would you pay as much for the light fixtures that could only be used by the original purchaser, and only while the company is in business? Probably not.
You can probably come up with a better analogy. The point is, with a non-tech audience (or even some fairly tech-savvy audiences) it's easy to see DRM as a special case, and/or to zone out when the technology gets too deep. Comparing it to something everyone can agree should be free from restriction (turning on the lights, riding a bike that you own, etc) makes the argument more concrete and easier to wrap one's head around, in my opinion.
posted by katemonster at 10:21 AM on November 8, 2007