DRM wars
Privacy is a subject I care a lot about and intend to write about occasionally. I care because it’s been under vigorous attack. Part of the blame must go to the Bush administration, who want such broad powers of intelligence gathering that our freedoms have been significantly abridged. The Bush administration fights on for more breaches in the social contract that should guarantee our personal liberties.
At least as much blame goes to the old school, short-sighted executives running some of our largest corporations. So many of our most powerful companies are led not by luddites, but by folks who just don’t get the Internet. It’s frustrating for those of us that think we see tons of revenue potential there.
The RIAA and MPAA are the poster children for the bury-your-head-in-the-sand mentality. These industry-specific groups have more than enough money to shape the kind of technological advances that would maintain their dominance in the world market. But they choose instead to spend their money on lobbying. Their old business models have become leaky dikes, now they try to plug them by putting an increasing number of legislative “fingers” into the holes to stem the inevitable water of progress. Here’s a great insider’s look at the issue from a techie who has been involved in implementing DRM and thought about it a lot. One thing I believe – the DRM wars will continue for the foreseeable future.