DRM _is_ evil

Posted Jan 20, 2007 17:59 UTC (Sat) by ArneBab (guest, #42896)
In reply to: DRM is not evil, just useless. by JakeG
Parent article: Kernel developers' position on GPLv3

I support the police and the law stopping people from shooting other
people or using unlicensed radio frequencies.

But I don't support technology forcing me not to shoot people or not to
use unlicensed radio frequencies, because it is not for the
technology-producer to decide, what I _can_ do with a device.

There might be a day, where I have to use an unlicensed frequency for a
higher cause, for example using my radio-transmitter to contact the police
in an emergency, when there is no phone at hand, and doing so, I take
responsibility for my action and it is only for a court to decide if I did
right or wrong.

If I save three hundred people by illegally shooting the terrorist with my
legal gun, then I might still run into problems because I killed a person,
but a court might well rule it good action and let me get away with a
fine.

Only because a device seems to have only certain good uses, it doesn't
mean there is never a moment where I might have to use a device for
something for which it wasn't originally intended.

And DRM doesn't have an override button.

The only ones who may keep me from acting freely are the police and other
state-employees, whom I gave my vote to serve _me_ that way.
A company never has that right, at least not morally and not in _my
domain_ (my computer).