[13108] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: DRM technology and policy
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (bear)
Sat Apr 26 14:10:19 2003
X-Original-To: cryptography@metzdowd.com
X-Original-To: cryptography@metzdowd.com
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2003 09:30:15 -0700 (PDT)
From: bear <bear@sonic.net>
To: Derek Atkins <derek@ihtfp.com>
Cc: cryptography@metzdowd.com
In-Reply-To: <sjmsms8aruq.fsf@kikki.mit.edu>
On 24 Apr 2003, Derek Atkins wrote:
>Adam, I don't know exactly what you do for a living, but would you
>continue to do it if people morally felt that they should not pay you
>for doing it?
And would you feel morally entitled to be paid if your audience
noticed that amateurs better at it than you were doing it for free?
Hint: It's hard to compete with free.
This is the dilemma that software houses are facing now. And if you
go check out some big internet music sites, you'll see that musicians
are beginning to get the same treatment that free software is giving
Microsoft.
I'm sorry, but given the rise of really good amateurs voluntarily
working for free, and competing with the commercial art and
distribution industry, I believe that the revenue stream of that
industry is doomed for simple business reasons of competition. When
a competitor is offering a better product than you for free, it's
time to close the books on the business and decide whether you want
to pursue it purely for the sake of art.
I just don't see a need to expend effort to protect the payment stream
of an industry that's doomed anyway.
Bear
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