Re: Call for support for 'citizens to fight back against online censorship and surveillance' and to have a vote on the 'web we want'

On 16 December 2013 21:30, David Singer <singer@apple.com> wrote:
> Fred
>
> you continue to confuse surveillance and DRM; the fact that you don’t like either does not, in fact, make them the same or even related problems.


As I understand the situation, the purpose of DRM is to ensure that a
certain piece of media is consumed only in accordance with the rules
laid down by the seller of said media (usually, this implies a limited
number of viewings, of viewed only on a single computer).

There are two ways, as far as I can see, in which this can be
implemented. The first is control; the DRM technology can attempt to
take control of the computer, at least with regard to certain
activities (e.g. copying the entertainment media onto a CD) away from
the user. A particularly infamous example of this approach is the Sony
rootkit.

The second possible approach is, yes, surveillance; the seller ensures
that they know about any uses of the media, and can identify illegal
ones or duplicate registrations and take relevant steps. Any system
that involves registration of the media on some server, or media that
can only be consumed by visiting some website, falls under this
approach.

Is there some approach to DRM that I am missing, some way to handle it
that does not fall under either Control or Surveillance?

Casey

Received on Tuesday, 17 December 2013 04:44:48 UTC