Posted by Bob on 04/26/06 13:37

On Tue, 25 Apr 2006 07:59:43 -0700, "Ken Moiarty" <kmoiarty35@shaw.ca>
wrote:

>Yes, I can see the DRM (digital rights management) rationale behind it. But
>I'm not so sure that rationale is very sound. I mean, the reasoning seems
>to be similar to the idea of banning the legal ownership of handguns by all
>citizens in order to significantly cut down on the use of firearms by
>criminals. But the career criminal largely figures out how to get around
>such measures, proving such to be no more than mere inconveniences, whilst
>many a law abiding citizen ends up being needlessly "penalized". It would
>seem to me in like manner that many DRM measures seek to curtail digital
>functionality to all consumers in the desperate hope of "maybe" reducing
>piracy, while those organized criminals who are in the business of digital
>content piracy on a genuinely threatening scale, have both, the resources
>and the talent to work around most if not all such, largely petty, measures.

There's another reason behind all this:

+++
"Did you really think we want those laws observed? We want them to be
broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy
scouts you're up against. We're after power and we mean it."

"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government
has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't
enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a
crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking
laws."

"Who wants a nation of law abiding citizens? What's there in that for
anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed
nor enforced or objectively interpreted and you create a nation of
law-breakers and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system,
that's the game and once you understand it you'll be much easier to
deal with."

--Ayn Rand, "Atlas Shrugged"
+++


--

"A politician's neck should always have a noose around it.
It keeps him upright."
-Robert Heinlein

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