__/ [ Da'Punk-A ] on Thursday 22 June 2006 13:06 \__
Roy Schestowitz wrote:
Whose property is at risk?
| How foolish was I. Thanks to the valiant efforts of Hollywood lobbyists
| and associated campaign contributors, our computers don't just play DVDs
| the way they can just play CDs. You have to buy extra software to make
| it happen with Windows. And it appears to be a violation of federal
| law to play a DVD on a Linux machine.
Damn stupid "intellectual property" laws. You may own the disk that
the movie's on, but you've only bought the /right/ to watch the movie
on that disk in the way the Hollywood magnates prescribe.
Thank God that stupid law doesn't apply here in the UK, and I can watch
/my/ movie on /my/ DVD any damn way that /I/ please.
I think...
What about DRM? I understand that there is a law under
consideration which suggests labelling of DRM'd media. It's
currently done in stealth (Sony rootkits cannot escape one's
mind).
Hollywood is taking an approach which is similar to that of
Microsoft (or its affiliates) and their software. The
attitude is: If you pay for Windows, you play by /our/
rules; You will call Redmond every day; You will have
spyware software (WGA) autonomously installed, without
opportunity for intervention (the EULA clearly states this
is legal, much like a waiver); you will not own the
software, but only the right to use it; if anything bad
happens, too bad (this often applies to GPL'd software as
well, to be fair).
Best wishes,
Roy
