Holiday Hacking A Thing Of The Past?
from the too-many-laws dept
With new laws being proposed, over-aggressive content companies trying to control everything they can, and a general misunderstanding of how innovation occurs, is it any wonder that some are afraid that you soon won’t be able to modify the things you buy? So, are we moving in a direction where everything is going to be locked down? It sometimes seems that way, but there still reason to be optimistic. In some cases, the worse it gets, the better the outcome will eventually be. Following the Sony BMG rootkit fiasco, more people are realizing that copy protection isn’t as “harmless” as it was always made out to be. Over time, hopefully, this will lead to more revelations about the unintended consequences of too much control and how it does more to limit markets than enable them. So, yes, while it does seem scary out there sometimes, hopefully it’s a temporary thing as some older businesses have a bit too much influence.
Comments on “Holiday Hacking A Thing Of The Past?”
Losing Control
It seems to me that more and more people are willing to accept controls (government and private) in exchange for safety, security, convenience or getting something for ‘free’. You have the Brits expanding their CCTV system; you have governments wanting to implant RFID chips in passports or requiring citizens to carry identification cards; you have people willing to let Google scan their email, IM, etc in exchange for free services; and so on. I’m not saying this is a bad or good thing, but as people slowly and sometimes unwittingly give up control, it becomes easier to do things like locking down physical goods like an XBox 360.
As to the rootkit fiasco, it may impact music sales, but I highly doubt it. If anything the rootkit fiasco has an upside for the music companies: Consumers are more likely to abandon CDs and purchase music online, where copyright control is far more prevalent, per unit costs are far lower, and where you don’t have to market a whole album.
Re: Losing Control
I am reminded of what Benjamin Franklin said: “Those who would sacrifice a little liberty for more safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” How far do we let this go?
End of times
Something about all this reminds me about the book of Revelation.
hmmm… Bill Gates… antichrist…Microsoft… Antichrist… hmmm
Influence yes...
problem is most often they lack capacity in some way shape or form.
No Subject Given
Truly what will any of this accomplish? When methods of control become unbearable to those who use product they will either abandone the product, or find a way to neutralize the control. Hackers will find ways to copy whatever they want as they have been doing for many years. Not since the days of the commodore 64 have i seen such an uproar about copy protection. And anyone who was in the c-64 scene could tell you, any and all copy protection can be cracked.
On another foot however the best way we can show the industry that this type of control over our products and content and even lives is not acceptable is by invoking the ultimate influence of consumership – DON”T BUY THESE PRODUCTS AND TELL THEM WHY LOULDY UNTIL SOMEONE LISTENS !
Remember – It may seem that big business is in control, but the consumer is the ultimate control of what is and is not acceptable.
Re: No Subject Given
Unfortunately, it’s not really “the consumer is the ultimate control,” it’s more like “the *majority* of consumers is ultimately in control.” I told a bunch of my non-geek friends about the rootkit thing, and they seemed unhappy, but not outraged. I think most people don’t really care about whether their music is DRMed or not, as long as it plays.
On the other hand, *any* encryption will be cracked. I hear there are hacked versions of OS X running on vanilla PCs already (http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,68501,00.html).
Music Industry
I have been in the music industry for quite some time now. It isn’t a full time profession for me any longer, but I have kept my foot in the door as a hobbiest.
The one great thing that has come from this whole copy fiasco. Is that controll over who has a voice, and who gets music played and purchased is being eroded from the big ‘control crazy’ companies.
In other words, the little guy, in the little studio is gaining ground. When I first got startded in the industry, 15 years ago, you didn’t get any good work without having a million dollar plus studio. These days, you will still have a hefty investment in your studio (if you want respectable work). But for a few hundred dollars, just about anybody can put together a 32 track studio, and produce music that can be placed on a website, burned to CD for sale in a local music shop, or used in a media kit for promotions so that you can get live gigs.
Musicians who would have never gotten a chance at making money off of music now have a easier chance at making it big, and engineers who would have never had a chance to mix an album have more access to equipment to see if they have what it takes to create that professional mix.
Ahhh! The unintended consequences of the control freaks!
Re: Music Industry
Following the Sony BMG rootkit fiasco, more people are realizing that copy protection isn’t as “harmless” as it was always made out to be
But is it really the copy protection that was dangerous here, or just the really poor implementation? I don’t think this opened anyone’s eyes to the harm caused by overzealous copy preotection, but rather opened a few people’s eyes to bad coding and illegal software installation.
And even then, does this change anything for most people? I don’t buy from Sony anymore, but this was only the last straw – I didn’t like the company much beforehand for all of their proprietary formats. But none of the non-techies in my life even know what happened, let alone have changed their buying habits or their opinions on copy protection based on this.
If we want to change people’s minds on copy protection, we need to show them how copy protection, even implemented “properly”, is a bad thing. This may get some publicity for the process, but that’s it.
Copy Protection taking over because PEOPLE ARE CLU
I’ve talked with some people who are in their 30’s and 40’s and they are totally clueless about the whole rootkit fiasco!!! They don’t care because it doesn’t affect them. It is these types of people who make up the majority of consumers – clueless people who just want the gadget to work and don’t care how it works, just that it does. These are also people who have never seen a need to copy music or movies to a different format for whatever reason. These people are going to drive the sales of crippled gadgets and 1984-like control over media sales.
No Subject Given
I would risk another 9/11 just to avoid the lines at airport check-in and security.