chxJul 15, 2023

My last act as a Hungarian journalist was translating the speech against DRM @pluralistic gave at Microsoft. For free, obviously. By then I was well on the way of becoming a full time Drupal developer but I felt it important enough.

So I am heavily biased towards him. With that disclaimer out of the way https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/14/making-good-trouble/ is nothing short of brilliant.

Pluralistic: Why they’re smearing Lina Khan (14 July 2023) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

Show threadJon (now at neuromatch.social)Jul 15, 2023

@chx was that the one from the mid-2000s that started with "Yar"? I helped set that up -- I connected @pluralistic to the person organizing talks for Microsoft Research 😎

EDIT: and here's the link! I had misremembered, it actually starts

"Greetings fellow pirates! Arrrrr!"

https://craphound.com/msftdrm.txt

Show threadThe Witch of Crow BriarJul 15, 2023
@jdp23 @chx @pluralistic Speaking as someone that started working at Microsoft back in 2003, I am ASTOUNDED this talk happened. It never would today (not would me working there)
Show threadJon (now at neuromatch.social)Jul 15, 2023

@crowbriarhexe Microsoft Research had a lot of autonomy at the time and prided themselves on allowing critical viewpoints. Also it was still an open question about what to do about consumer DRM -- they released the first version of Zune without DRM. And I had written a BillG Thinkweek paper on "Why Microsoft should abandon DRM" and he had forwarded it on with "not sure I agree but we should think about this" (or something like that).

@chx @pluralistic

Show threadchx
@jdp23 @crowbriarhexe @pluralistic we won the battle on MP3s sold with DRM. And then lost the war completely: over 80% of music revenue in the US is from streaming which "of course" is DRM'd. Let's not even mention Netflix and co. We similarly won the kernel battle (Android, servers all run Linux) and lost the end user free software war so totally its not even fought any more.
Jul 15, 2023 at 7:17amWeb
Show threadDima Pasechnik 🇺🇦 🇳🇱Jul 15, 2023
@chx @jdp23 @crowbriarhexe @pluralistic
end user free software known as ChromeOS is happily running on at least 100,000,000 units atm. Does it count as a lost battle?
Show threadLaPingvino 🟙 Jul 15, 2023
@chx @jdp23 @crowbriarhexe @pluralistic I don't think these wars are won by battles. My POV is that a new generation is introduced by irrelevance of the previous one. Laws can only delay things happening. At some point what everyone does is basically how everyone thinks it should be and has always been, even if it's something new. The real battle is about what we do, not about how the laws say things should be. That says, laws very much do decide how things can and will form, we need them to keep companies in check. Using them to protect companies is complete nonsense.
Show threadNeil MackenzieJul 15, 2023

@chx @jdp23 @crowbriarhexe @pluralistic

When you write “we won the battle on MP3s sold with DRM” does “we” include musicians?

Show threadchxJul 15, 2023
@mknz @jdp23 @crowbriarhexe @pluralistic MP3 stores by and large dropped DRM for eg iTunes in 2009. That's all I meant.
Show threadThe Witch of Crow BriarJul 17, 2023
@chx yeah and I agree with your characterization of winning the battle but losing the war, unfortunately, but that was def not obvious at the time. DRM felt like *the* fight especially after the wild west of unrestricted file sharing.
Show threadDavid RolfeJul 15, 2023
@mknz yes. Bandcamp exists. Apple and Amazon sell music to own with no drm or lock-in. Music piracy dwindled. Where we (musicians and listeners) lost the war is on streaming, monopolization and enshittification. I’ll never see a penny from Spotify, but I’ve made a few dollars on Bandcamp.
Show threadDavid RolfeJul 15, 2023
@mknz almost no one is paying their rent with music. There are like 9 to 30 thousand professional musicians in the USA (measures vary) that’s a tiny tiny minority.
Show threadOhad LutzkyJul 16, 2023
@chx @jdp23 @crowbriarhexe @pluralistic The primary issue of DRM had, for most, been locking of music behind "thou shalt buy song-by-song (preferably physical media)" paywalls. I'd argue that MP3 sharing made that go away. "Listen to anything you want with ads or pay a small amount to make them go away" is an RIAA defeat.
The primary issue of closed software had, similarly, been closed *formats*, especially for things like word processors or websites; this has also largely been resolved.
Show threadLarry RubinowJul 15, 2023
@chx @jdp23 @crowbriarhexe @pluralistic Capitalism never sleeps. :(