DRM Article: Why Do We Steal?

A friend of mine sent me a link to an article. I'm not going to tell you who that friend is, 'cause, well, other friends might give him flak for giving me ammunition.

See, I hate DRM (Digital Rights Managment). I think it sucks. I also think we deserve this kind of b.s. in our lives to remind us of how trust and honesty have gone out the window. Businesses have started looking at their customers as threats instead of patrons. Theft'll do that to you.

I don't know who Stephen Speicher is (and I'll admit to not trying to find out) but wow, is he ever asking for it. He's posted an article on the internet that touches on the subject of piracy and why some people think it's ok. That's like a Republican Congressmen criticizing Bush.

See, some people (Cory Doctorow...I'm looking in your direction...) think consumers are "entitled" to media, whether it be music or video; that somehow anything created artistically belongs to the people, not the artists and not the company that paid the artist for the right to own and distribute that given work.

This is a subject I haven't talked about for a while, because, quite frankly, it's tiresome and there's no convincing practioners that what they're doing is harmful and against long-standing business practices.

I know, I know, Cory: "come up with a new business model, then!" You first, pal. Until then, don't buy an iPod and let them know what you think.

So, I encourage any readers of this blog (there must be one or two of you, according to Clustrmaps) to have a gander at the article. Where do you stand on the moral fibre scale?


"Law-abiding, moral people do things with entertainment content that they wouldn't dream of doing with physical goods. Can you imagine walking into a restaurant which you knew to be overpriced, eating, and then leaving without paying just because the you felt the place was a rip-off and not worth the prices they charged? Worse yet, can you imagine doing it the next day also? Of course not!"
-Stephen Speicher