Digital Rights Management
Hi,
There is a topic that I would like to discuss with you that I really
have no idea what your response will be. I have just returned from the
Texas South-by-Southwest (swsx.com) media festival where I spoke with
many musicians, film makers, porn stars and other producers of
non-techincal media content. What I became absolutely convinced of at
this conference is that there are many individuals who are dependant
on having a way to control and recieve payment for the distribution of
their ideas and creative works and that the work of the Free Software
movement is instrumental in depriving them of these things.
For instance, I like to go see films. Many films cost a great deal of
money to make. While you could argue that people could make free films
there are obviously a wide variety of films that could never be
produced this way. Without a way to reliably recieve payment for
viewing movies we will eventually be deprived of products like Star
Wars, Star Trek, The Matrix, Porkies and other obvious cultural
necessities.
While I am a firm believer in the concept of sharing my work with my
neighbors to make their life better I am not happy with some of the
things I see happening with our software. Systems like Napster or
Freenet are creating a situation where the work of the artistic
community is being taken against their will. I cannot accept the
thought that the efforts of the Free Software movement should coerce
people into "sharing" their own work when they have not agreed to do
so.
It seems to me that our community must create its own digital rights
management system that is an integral part of the GNU operating
system. While this may seem odd at first glance I think that it is a
moral necessity. We believe in sharing our work but that does not mean
that we are thieves or that we condone theft. Free Software has taken
on a strange new role in society that brings many responsibilities
with it. We are no longer in the AI lab, among friends. We have become
a part of the outside world where our work is used by the moral and
the immoral alike. As the architects of the system that citizens use
to consume information we are morally compelled to protect the
interests of the producer just as agressively as we protect the rights
of the consumer.
Art and music cannot grind to a halt and become hobbies. Creative
producers of media must have an avenue to protect themselves from
theft. Digital rights management will happen, one way or another, and
it is an issue where we have to be in the drivers seat.
Best regards,
E.Schuessler
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Ean Schuessler Freak
Brainfood, Inc. Freak Central
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