DRM Considered Harmful

Digital Rights Management (DRM) is technology that, under the guise of protecting innocent artists, gives away basic rights that consumers have had for a few hundred years. Since the RIAA hasn’t (yet) been able to eliminate fair use rights directly, they are using a combination of technology and legislation to prevent you from, say, being able to copy your new CD onto your iPod.

Cory Doctorow, of Boing Boing fame, has posted a great little rant he just gave at Microsoft Research on why DRM will never work, is harmful to society, artists, business and Microsoft itself.

It’s worth reading all the way through. If you care about DRM already, it will help you articulate your thoughts better the next time you bring it up at a dinner party (as an aside, why don’t I get invited to more dinner parties?). If you don’t care about DRM, I bet you will by the time you get done reading.