DRM technology and policy

[tpurdy at newsguy.com]

On Tue, 22 Apr 2003 12:23:25 -0400, "John S. Denker" <jsd at monmouth.com>
wrote:

>On 04/22/2003 08:31 AM, Andreas Bogk wrote in part:
>> 
>> Making a copy of something is no longer a
>> scarce resource.  DRM is nothing but a try to keep it scarce for a
>> little longer.
>
>
>On 04/22/2003 09:06 AM, Peter Clay wrote in part:
> >
> >  I'm sure that if candy
> > could be produced with zero _marginal_ cost, there would be free candy
> > stores.
>
>
>Please get a clue.  Copyright isn't about the
>scarcity of copying or the marginal cost thereof.
>Never has been.
>
>Copyright is about recouping the _fixed_ costs.  This
>is necessary in general, and particularly important
>when the market is of limited size, so that the fixed
>cost per unit is significant in absolute terms.
>
>http://www.copyrighthistory.com/anne.html
>http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.articlei.html#section8

Ya, in an ideal world.

It's been a few years since I've driven in LA, but the last time I did,
it also seemed like there were huge variable costs, the cost of image
maintenance.  "Image maintenance", in this case, being keeping media
execs shoulder deep in fast cars, fast women, and (IMO) abundant
supplies of the current image-enhancing drug.

IMO, we'd all be better off if the media companies threw their R&D
budgets at drug research, instead of DRM.   The benefits derived from an
image enhancing drug that made people smarter -- instead of stupid or
pathologically goofy -- while ensuring fresh breath, fresh intimate
odors, clear eyes, and a glossy coat, would be phenomenal. 

After that, maybe I'd trust 'em to require DRM on my toaster oven hosted
music library.

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