Reply to post: Re: I don't see a problem.

Re: I don't see a problem.

Since the audiovisual content eventually has to be emitted in unencrypted form so that my eyes and ears can perceive it, it will always be possible for motivated individuals to rip DRM-protected content anyway.

Yup, a few seconds thought (combined with my (actually very limited) electronics, photography and AV knowledge, and I now have the expertise to defeat any DRM - effectively simply pointing a camera at the screen and using some well-placed microphones (actually I'd wire the output of one into the input of the other, maybe via a little bit of circuitry to keep things sounding good)

Personally, it is not about the money; it is about ease of use, and my freedom to consume media in the format and on the device I prefer. Until content providers make it easier to buy their content than to pirate it, people will pirate it.

When you brought a record, tape, CD or video, you could put it into any compatible player and play it perfectly OK (ie if you only had a reel-reel drive you couldn't do compact cassette, and a gramophone wouldn't play a 33rpm record so well (not if it was limited to 78rpm) in case I need to explain "compatible" to anyone!). When DVD came out it began, where you could only play the disc on a "appropriate region" device. Now with videos, it's just possible I could be out at a mates place, see a movie I want to watch at home, buy it using my phone and..Oh shit, can't put it on my TV¹ have to buy another copy for the TV. At which point I would pirate it² - I purchased a copy to watch on a decent screen, the device I watched it on should not matter. Or maybe I purchased it to preview myself to make sure it's ok for my kids, or appropriate to watch with a couple of Christian mates. But can only watch once before having to buy another copy, and cannot actually have mates around for a viewing anyway (what, you didn't realise you can interpret many (most?) of those copyright notices that way?)

I'm not anti-copyright at all. I am very anti-DRM however, with the exception of encryption or other methods to protect private/sensitive data. Interesting that many of those who are of the "you should not freely see our material" camp also belong to the "we must be able to freely see all your private stuff, and have rights to it if and when we want" camps - eg Google, Apple, and a few others maybe named in the article...

¹ Yes yes I know chromecast etc may work, and maybe in future they will be stopped from working.

² Though you don't need to pirate with so many just-released-still-in-theatres movies on YouTube perfectly legally available, supplied by a big multi-national corporation)