> (Unless you DRM-crack, and get into the gray areas of the piracy culture that's creating much of the DRM problems.)
Meh. Even if there was no piracy there'd be DRM. It's not only used to limit privacy but also how you can legitimately use stuff you bought. Like how many devices you can access it on. Or how many times you can view video content.
In fact I think the presence of piracy helps keep prices low. I'm sure Netflix would raise prices even more if they weren't losing customers to piracy every time they raise prices or add crap like ads.. And really, DRM does absolutely nothing to prevent this. It's not as if the latest shows aren't on the pirate bay hours after they appear on Netflix.
> But it would be healthy for everyone if people supported a DRM-free and non-surveillance ebook ecosystem.
That would be very nice yes, if there were one. I don't think there's anything like GOG for books. But yes I do always buy my games on GOG if they are available there.
That is what DRM is for. Same as the region locking in DVDs. It is about segmenting markets, preventing competition and ensuring that the publishers can sell the same content over and over again.
Not that I've ever encountered it in the wild, but I feel like pointing out that publishers can opt-out of DRM on Amazon as well. You'd recognise them by this in the description:
> At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
I only know about it because of Cory Doctorow, never seen anyone else that does this. Heck, even re-packaged public domain books contain DRM for some inexplicable reason.
Kobo also does it. They tell you in the eBook details. It's the publisher's request. Publishers like Tor, O'reily and Baen go DRM free. If the re-packaged public domain books don't request it then on goes the DRM.
Hmm yeah but I don't tend to read technical books on ereaders. Most of them require a bigger screen to be usable. I only read fiction on my kindle.
I haven't seen a good store that has the usual popular content without DRM. Well except on paper of course :)
But yeah I didn't know that existed for tech books. In fact the ones I bought online were from big publishers and quite expensive compared to fiction books. But perhaps that's just my niche.
Meh. Even if there was no piracy there'd be DRM. It's not only used to limit privacy but also how you can legitimately use stuff you bought. Like how many devices you can access it on. Or how many times you can view video content.
In fact I think the presence of piracy helps keep prices low. I'm sure Netflix would raise prices even more if they weren't losing customers to piracy every time they raise prices or add crap like ads.. And really, DRM does absolutely nothing to prevent this. It's not as if the latest shows aren't on the pirate bay hours after they appear on Netflix.
> But it would be healthy for everyone if people supported a DRM-free and non-surveillance ebook ecosystem.
That would be very nice yes, if there were one. I don't think there's anything like GOG for books. But yes I do always buy my games on GOG if they are available there.