A fantastic essay / speech / lecture from Cory Doctorow to Microsoft Research on DRM, that demolishes – neatly and eruditely – the myths of DRM. It’s optimistic, pointing out that virtually every technological innovation invented in the last 100 years has been opposed by the then-equivilent of the RIAA and friends; and every technological innovation has then gone on to create bigger and better markets for the content that the RIAA and friends are trying to ‘protect’.
Not that I’m so optimistic. Which rules are made and which technologies prevail ultimately comes down to the whim of the lawmakers, at least in our current way of making decisions. And the trend seems to be that it’s not about the quality of the arguments so much as the resources that you can throw at making your argument. That gives Cory’s side of the argument a fundamental problem, because their resources are a fraction of those that the other side can call on.
