Re: DRM in debian?

[Lee Braiden <jel@tundra.ath.cx>]

On Saturday 12 March 2005 10:10, Seeker5528 wrote:
> On the other as in the form example you have specific things designed for
> specific purposes, where the liberty question is irrelevant.

With no disrespect (at all) to you personally, this approach sounds like being 
a control freak to me.  Again, why do you care about the form?  It has 
nothing to do with the data you collect FROM the form.  A form is just a 
thing on a screen, that people may want to print out because their eyes hurt, 
or they want to consult with someone who isn't near a computer, or...

A well-designed system will validate data as it enters the database anyway, so 
implementing worldwide controls on what people do with their own systems 
seems like an awfully unfocused and redundant way to manage the problem of 
integrity.

There are many reasons people want to do different things with forms.  To 
pretend that there is only one valid use is just narrowminded.  If you want 
your data to be correct, fix the data.  Don't try to fix the world.  Some of 
us like the world to change and evolve.

> In the same way that I and many others feel that P2P networks should not
> be banned just because they can be used for piracy, I feel that DRM
> should not be rejected just because it has it's bad use at the other end
> of the spectrum.

And yet, the DRM approach above is trying to limit the usefulness of forms in 
exactly the way that anti-P2P folks want to limit the usefulness of 
computers.

-- 
Lee.