RE: The challenge of serving *EVERYONE* (was RE: Mozilla blog: DRM and the Challenge of Serving Users)

cobaco wrote:
>

> first:
>
> Copying is NOT theft, if you steal something the other person doesn't
> have it anymore, if you copy it you now both have one.
> That's a fundamentally and totally different dynamic.

Why do I bother?

If you copy something of mine with my permission, then you now have a copy;
I shared it with you. (My stuff, my choice)

If you copy something of mine without my permission, then I have not shared
it with you freely, you have taken it - that's stealing. (My stuff, your
choice)

If I go to your house, and you offer me a steak dinner, then you have shared
your food with me. (Your stuff, your choice)

If I go to your house and take steaks from your freezer without your
permission, is that sharing? No, it is theft. (Your stuff, my choice)

The fact that making digital copies is easy, and with no loss of fidelity,
does not automatically determine that all digital materials are free to copy
without permission. I don't care what kind of hogwash the EFF and the FSF
folks are selling this week, their ideals do not constitute "the only way".
It is one way, it is a way that you and others admire and like, but that
doesn't make it the One True God: deal with it.

I get you don't like that, and that you disagree, but here's the thing: I
don't care what you think. If I own something, digital or physical, then I
will take whatever legal steps are available to me to ensure that you don't
"share" my stuff without my permission. If that means locking my meat
freezer, then I will put a lock on it (and yes, you can cut or pick the
local, but that is criminal and uncivilized, if perfectly do-able,
behavior). If I want to lock my digital content, and control who has a key,
then that is my right too, and no manner of hand-ringing and email writing
will change that.


>
> second, there's no need for imagination to explain that 'sense of
> entitlement'
> as you call it, let me walk you through it:
>
> everyone with basic computer and internet knowledge *knows* that the
> delayed release by region is pure idiocy from a technical perspective
> (that's the vast majority of people on the planet at this point)

First, that is *NOT* the vast majority of people on the planet. You need to
get out of the basement more often.

Second: Perhaps this appears illogical from a technical perspective, but
what about from a business perspective?

How dare you or anyone else tell me or any other company how to conduct
my/their business.  Frankly, go to H*ll. It doesn't really matter whether
you like how I run my business, you have two choices: don't do business with
me, or suck it up and do it on my terms.

There are no other options. PERIOD.

Presuming that there are is simply a manifestation of that entitlement I
mentioned. Who died and made you dictator of the world? Seriously.

>
> when you make some people jump to arbitrary hoops for no good reason -
> making them wait for a digital good in this case- then you are treating
> them as a member of a lower class

Then don't do business with them. Period. Nobody is forcing you to do
anything with any single business.

>
> People seriously resent being treated as second class (nothing
> remarkable or new about that emotional response)

The thing is... most people who are legally streaming their copy-protected
content now (to Flash or Silverlight) don't feel like they are being treated
like second class citizens. They are happy with the fact they can watch
movies on their iPads; it keeps the kids quiet on the back seat of their
minivan.

Your immediate circle of friends and acquaintances does not constitute nor
reflect the diversity of people who use the internet today, and believing
otherwise is yet again that entitlement problem.


>
> That resentment goes double for people in social groups that cross
> release zones. Because they now run into the social difficulty of not
> just being able to discuss last nights episode with their
> friends/colleagues/acquaintances , they first have to embargo their
> knowledge to avoid spoiling their friends'
> experience, and it turns out people are generally bad at that.

Wow, I am so sorry for you. Really, this is the most important thing in your
life right now? The ability to chat about Game of Thrones the next morning
without appearing stupid or tipping of your friends?  Keep typing, you are
doing a wonderful job.


> (That group of people who regularly interact with people socially
> across release zones includes pretty much everyone who uses the
> internet as intended, i.e. as a world-wide-web, that's kind of the
> point of the whole thing)

Yes, I'm sure that when TBL was inventing the internet, his big picture idea
was to allow you to chat about pirated video content in real time.

>
> When you put the above together with the easy option of pirating which:
> * gets the end-user what they want
> * gives them get the additional satisfaction of pulling one over on the
> power- that-be that tried to treat them as a member of a lower class
> (from their emotional perspective)
> * is likely more convenient then jumping through the hoops anyway
> * is just an act of sharing, something people rightly see as positive
> to begin with
>
> Guess what most people will do? The answer should not be a surprise,
> and is definately not 'beyond imagination', it is just basic human
> psychology.

...and, voila. A classic diatribe highlighting that sense of entitlement.
Summary: Stealing is good "..'cause it's sticking it to the man".

I feel very, very sorry for you.

JF

Received on Friday, 16 May 2014 19:09:48 UTC