Sure, the question at face value is a little facetious but I’m curious as to where people stand on the intersection of law and technology to limit how you pursue some forms of entertainment. The proliferation of DRM schemes that fragment and lock content to particular devices limit how and where you can consume content. Want to use iTunes? Need an iPod. Napster? Plays For Sure device. Even the mundane DVD has a creaky combination of DRM and licensing which makes it illegal in the US to play back movies without either licensed software or hardware (and yes, I am a cranky Linux user). The trend in the entertainment and hardware industries is to view its customers with suspicion with the sentiment that they cannot be really trusted to use the content in a manner that preserves intellectual property rights.

What is a consumer to do? I find myself purchasing and supporting devices that are open, ones that do not use DRM to lock down content but the odd thing about that is I find myself feeling as if I am increasingly marginalized in the marketplace. Trying to find a UMS compliant music player is difficult let alone finding one that supports a non-proprietary format like OGG. My problem for certain but it is that struggle to maintain Fair Use that is transforming this tech worker into a bit of a Luddite.

Certainly, it is an odd thing to be worried about. Ask the average person their stance on HDCP and they might blink at you for a bit but I get the feeling that what I listen to, watch, or read is going to be locked up in a lease where I get no real say in the terms of use. That is certainly the case when I knowingly have to circumvent the DMCA so that my niece can watch a movie on my laptop. Is my free time really mine? Yes, in the sense that I can choose not to use iTunes or play a boardgame with my niece rather than watch a movie. What if I want to rip a CD to listen on my player or make a mix for a friend? In that regard my free time is being dictated to me.

What are your thoughts?

// Seeing as a week’s worth of tech news often leaves me grumpy this curmudgeon going to go read a book. One preferably in the public domain that is unless the Copyright Extension Act hasn’t allowed someone to re-snap up the rights.