Posts tagged “DRM”

Stop downloading! Stealing CDs is much cheaper.

I’m on a legal kick today. Here is an example of just how anti-human being and pro-corporation our legal system is today (arguably, always was). Jammie Thomas was recently re-convicted of illegally sharing 1700 songs and the record labels were awarded $1.92 million in damages. Jesus Diaz over at Gizmodo compares that to six other high-profile crimes and the comparative fine (emphasis mine):

Child abduction: Fine of $25,000 and up to three years in prison, which can be accounted as $50,233 per year (that was the median household income in 2007, probably down because of the economic crisis). Total: $175,699.

Steal the CDs: A total of $275,000, $52,500 fine for the CDs.

Steal a lawnmower from your neighbour: A total of $375,000.

Burn someone’s house while playing The Doors: Another $375,000.

Stalk a Gizmodo editor (yes, you know who you are): A Class 4 felony that will result in just $175,000.

Start a dogfighting ring: $50,000.

Murder someone on the second degree, a Class 1 felony: $778,495, which accounts for a $25,000 fine and four to 15 years in prison. Jesus Diaz
Senior Contributing Editor, Gizmodo

So, what does our legal system teach us about the values of our society? Evidently, it is much better to run into Best Buy and steal the 1700 songs ($1.64 million cheaper) on CD. I mean, in this economic climate, who can really afford the luxuries of digital stealing? Much better to risk getting yourself shot and impose the violence of burglary on the masses in a chain store. Bonus: Once you have the CDs, you can actually make your own digital copies in full fidelity, unlike the options offered by virtually all digital music retailers.

Ooh, wait, I have a better idea…get rid of the goddamn Digital Millennium Copyright Act!

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Paying for music online? You are a sucker.

Cory over at BoingBoing has a crystal clear example why you should never, ever pay for music that contains DRM:

Hey suckers! Did you buy DRM music from Wal*Mart instead of downloading MP3s for free from the P2P networks? Well, they’re repaying your honesty by taking away your music. Unless you go through a bunch of hoops (that you may never find out about, if you’ve changed email addresses or if you’re not a very technical person), your music will no longer be playable after October 9th.

But don’t worry, this will never ever happen to all those other DRM companies — unlike little fly-by-night mom-and-pop operations like Wal*Mart, the DRM companies are rock-ribbed veterans of commerce and industry, sure to be here for a thousand years…They are as solid and permanent as Commodore, Atari, the Soviet Union, the American credit system and the Roman Empire. Cory Doctorow
Happy Mutant

It is a good thing Congress created a new cabinet-level Copyright Czar on Friday to make sure we, the pesky consumers of content, don’t start demanding silly things like access to the goods we have purchased. What’s that you say? You thought Congress was meeting on Friday with singular focus to solve the “impending doom” (clears throat, screams Bullshit!) that is the Wall St. meltdown? Damn, you really are a sucker.

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