[p2p-research] Fwd: [fcforum] Fw: iPad DRM is a dangerous step backward. Sign the petition!

[Kevin Carson]

On 2/10/10, Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com> wrote:
> I understand the idea behind objecting to republishing, but I don't see it
> as enforceable at all, can you prosecute someone because you miss on a
> banner?
>
> the fact remains that your pages is reproducible at the push of a button,
> and it happens all the time and massively, including on this mailing list ..

Precisely.  Marco is free to get angry about anything he wants.  But
in practical terms, it's apt to be as effective as commanding the
waves not to advance (whatever Anglo-Saxon king that story's
attributed to).

It's a simple matter of fact that, DRM or no DRM, new movies and
albums appear DRM-free on torrent sites the same day they're released
by the content owners.  And it's a simple matter of fact that this
phenomenon affects the price it's possible to pay for proprietary
content.  We're rapidly heading for a time when the convenience value
of content procured from an authorized source is the only source of
income on it.  The unenforceability of IP  law is one component of the
total environment which is pushing toward "Free," and there's really
no way of stopping it short of a totalitarian information regime (and
even China's not so hot at carrying that off).

If the near-universality of IP law is one part of the reality Ryan
appeals to, then so are 1) the relative degree of enforceability of
such laws, 2) the percentage of the public  willing to break them, and
3) the resulting limits on prices content owners can charge.

-- 
Kevin Carson
Center for a Stateless Society http://c4ss.org
Mutualist Blog:  Free Market Anti-Capitalism
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The Homebrew Industrial Revolution:  A Low-Overhead Manifesto
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Organization Theory:  A Libertarian Perspective
http://mutualist.blogspot.com/2005/12/studies-in-anarchist-theory-of.html