WEBVTT - What is DRM? 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:03.000 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:08.920 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:17.960 text style from how stuff works dot com. Hello again, everyone, 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:20.400 and welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Polette 0:00:20.360 --> 0:00:21.919 and I am an editor here at how stuff works 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:24.640 dot com, sitting across from me as usual as senior 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:27.840 writer Jonathan Strickland. And please do pay attention to the 0:00:27.920 --> 0:00:32.360 men behind the curtain. Oh boy, we're in our new digs. 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:35.240 Oh yes, our brand new studio has been completed. Yes, 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:38.120 and uh, and now there's a curtain separating us from Jerry, 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:40.919 so we can't see when she's you know, surfing Facebook 0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:43.480 or whatever. She can do whatever she likes, and we'll 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:45.000 be back here in our own little room. In fact, 0:00:45.040 --> 0:00:47.080 she might not even be in there anymore. We don't know. 0:00:48.479 --> 0:00:50.760 All right, then well we should we should, we should 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:53.000 go ahead and get started. Then, yes, let's do that. Actually, 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:56.240 we are recording this um just before I am about 0:00:56.240 --> 0:00:59.200 to leave the office to go catch a flight, So 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:02.080 if we talk quickly, that's why, because I need to 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:04.720 go and get on a plane. But we're gonna talk 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:08.560 about dr M or digital rights management and exactly what 0:01:08.640 --> 0:01:12.760 it is and why some people are really against the 0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:16.720 whole idea in the first place. Um, But to really 0:01:16.760 --> 0:01:19.040 talk about DRM, we kind of have to step back 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:25.120 and just talking about copy protection in general. Yes, because um, well, 0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:28.039 actually before we even really get into that, I just 0:01:28.080 --> 0:01:31.759 like to point something out, um, that digital rights management 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:37.440 is supposed to be about who owns what essentially, and uh, 0:01:37.480 --> 0:01:39.839 you know, if you buy a program off the shelf, 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:42.600 take it home and put it on your computer, the 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:46.320 the people who make it basically want to ensure that 0:01:46.720 --> 0:01:49.040 they can't you know, that you can't make as many 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:50.960 copies as you want to give them to all your friends. 0:01:51.000 --> 0:01:54.280 Thereby they only sold one copy of this software. Well, 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:56.000 the thing is, though, there are a lot of other 0:01:56.040 --> 0:02:00.880 digital rights involved, uh, including yours. You have rights to 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:03.960 that software. So it should be pointed out that copy 0:02:04.000 --> 0:02:07.360 protection is only one part of the digital rights spectrum. 0:02:07.720 --> 0:02:09.840 And you know, digital rights management sort of as a 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:12.360 bad name simply because of that. And that's why people 0:02:12.360 --> 0:02:15.720 are so upset because they view it simply as copy protection. 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:17.040 But we can we can get into that a little 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:18.440 bit later. We should just go ahead and get into 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:20.840 copy protection. Yeah, let's talk about copy protection, and we'll 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:24.000 we'll work our way into why some people feel DRM 0:02:24.080 --> 0:02:26.840 is far too restrictive and that it goes well beyond 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:29.720 copy protection to the point where it can actually ruin 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:32.839 your your experience as a customer. But we'll sure, we'll 0:02:32.840 --> 0:02:36.799 really dive into that. So copy protection is pretty much 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:40.959 self explanatory. It's a method of protecting a work from 0:02:40.960 --> 0:02:46.120 being copied illegally and distributed beyond the rights holders. Um 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:51.080 uh scope right. So uh in the olden days, way 0:02:51.120 --> 0:02:54.919 way way way back, when a copy of protection really 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:59.200 wasn't that important. And for instance, a book, if I 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:02.200 were to public a really long book, it would be 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:05.280 difficult for anyone else to make a copy of that 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:08.320 book without going to great links and using a lot 0:03:08.360 --> 0:03:11.040 of time and effort to do so. Yes, as a 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:13.360 matter of fact, that's uh, that's a big reason why 0:03:13.480 --> 0:03:16.400 it wasn't an issue people that the publishers really just 0:03:16.520 --> 0:03:19.480 simply were not concerned that people were going to run 0:03:19.520 --> 0:03:21.720 out and copy these things by hand, and what are 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:23.800 they going You would either have to write it down, 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:26.320 longhand or you would have to create, you know, build 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:29.679 up printing press and and copy it that way, or 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:32.560 eventually you get to the point where you can mimiograph 0:03:32.680 --> 0:03:35.080 or xerox pages, but even then you're doing it page 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:39.280 by page. It was such a laborious and uh an 0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:41.800 unrewarding task, especially if something went wrong in the middle 0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:43.560 of it. You don't have to stop and fix everything 0:03:43.600 --> 0:03:46.760 to continue. Um. It really wasn't an issue. You know, 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:48.920 it's very few people were going to take that kind 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:53.240 of time and effort to copy someone else's work. That's right. 0:03:53.400 --> 0:03:56.920 But now let's let's move ahead and go toward well, 0:03:57.000 --> 0:03:58.960 you know, we we could even talk about things like 0:03:59.360 --> 0:04:02.520 the cassette hate business and how that was a big issue, 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:06.800 as as was VHS. UM. Anything that allowed a customer 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:11.720 to to put something that was uh published in one 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:15.200 medium and then transferred to another medium was met with 0:04:15.680 --> 0:04:19.120 a great amount of resistance in the various entertainment industries. 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:21.800 That's right. Um. As a matter of fact, if if 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:24.440 you really think about it, it's the advent of electronic 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:27.560 technology that would allow you to copy something that really 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:29.520 made it an issue. There's there's a mention of it 0:04:29.560 --> 0:04:33.480 in the Constitution, I believe, a very very simple mention 0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:37.320 of copyright, and it's it's a very vague sense and 0:04:37.520 --> 0:04:39.320 the thing is they didn't have to worry about it. 0:04:39.360 --> 0:04:41.440 But then in the twentieth century, not only do you 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:45.840 have things like cassette tapes and VCRs, you've got uh, 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:51.160 photo copiers, you've got facsimile machines, and suddenly, uh, you know, 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:55.120 Congress is having to deal with a number of different 0:04:55.320 --> 0:04:59.400 pieces of legislation, uh, coming from different companies going hey, 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:01.159 wait a minute, people are making lots and lots of 0:05:01.200 --> 0:05:04.560 copies of our work, and you know, hey, we did 0:05:04.600 --> 0:05:06.120 a lot of work on this thing. We don't want 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:08.680 people just running off with it. So you know, you 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:10.400 have to write some laws to protect that. But the 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:13.719 thing is, even though there are laws in place, as 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:16.800 someone has said to me on more than one occasion, 0:05:16.920 --> 0:05:19.440 it's only illegal if you get caught, right. So the 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:21.479 thing is, you've got all this technology, but if you 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:24.039 never get caught doing it, you can still duplicate it 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:28.039 at will. Yeah. And on top of that, beside the 0:05:28.040 --> 0:05:31.000 fact that it had suddenly become easy to start making copies, 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:34.800 or at least relatively easy to make copies of material 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:37.880 that did not belong to you, uh, there's also the 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:42.480 concept of fair use, which all which clouds things up considerably. Well, 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:45.000 it's cloudy in and of itself. Right, fair use itself 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:49.320 is not is not specifically defined. Is it is vague 0:05:49.360 --> 0:05:51.600 on purpose and it ends up being an issue that 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:54.640 ends up that that's decided on a case by case basis. 0:05:55.040 --> 0:05:57.680 But in general, things that are considered fair use or 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:01.279 if you are taking some material in order to comment 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:05.279 upon it, to to provide some sort of insightful commentary 0:06:05.320 --> 0:06:07.880 that is outside the scope of the original material, then 0:06:07.920 --> 0:06:10.919 you could present some of that original material, although the 0:06:10.960 --> 0:06:14.800 definition of how much you can present is not Again, 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:18.560 that's not really defined. So is it all right to 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:22.080 to take a paragraph out of a previously published work 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:25.839 and then comment on it? Maybe? What about twenty pages? 0:06:26.360 --> 0:06:28.800 Well maybe not. The problem is that it's not very 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:31.160 well defined. If you if you took a line from 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:35.400 a High Coup, that's a third of it essentially, Well 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:37.919 no that but that is the point it really, It 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:40.680 really does depend on how much of the material you're 0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:43.840 taking from it. If you're taking it from say the Odyssey, 0:06:43.880 --> 0:06:46.800 well that isn't in copyright, but it's something that size 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:49.760 um and you're taking two pages of it, Well, that's 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:53.039 all things considered, that's a pretty small amount of it. 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:56.520 Another thing that is important to consider is how transformative 0:06:56.560 --> 0:06:59.320 it is well. And another issue of fair use is 0:06:59.360 --> 0:07:01.960 not just if you are transforming something or if you 0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:05.680 are commenting upon something. It's also the idea of being 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:08.800 able to create a backup copy of something for your 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:13.040 own use. Now, this is another part that comes into 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:16.120 play with digital rights management in just a little bit. 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:19.000 So the the idea here is that if you were 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:23.320 to uh to purchase something like let's say you back 0:07:23.360 --> 0:07:26.240 in the seventies you bought a vinyl record and then 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:29.080 you know, in the eighties you've got some cassettes and 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:30.800 you think, oh, you know what, I'm gonna make a 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:33.320 copy of that vinyl record on cassette for my own 0:07:33.440 --> 0:07:36.760 use to archives. So if anything does happen to that record, 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:38.440 I still have the music. I don't have to go 0:07:38.520 --> 0:07:43.000 and purchase it again. That's okay, Okay, you can do that. 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:46.720 You can actually make a backup copy of something in 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:50.040 order to if the only purposes, so that you can 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:52.560 have it in case something happens to the original. Uh, 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:54.640 you know, you can't go and distribute it. You know, 0:07:54.680 --> 0:07:56.840 it's not supposed You're not supposed to do something like 0:07:57.560 --> 0:08:00.280 transfer that record to cassette tape and then start selling 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:03.440 those cassette tapes out of the trunk of your car. Um, 0:08:03.480 --> 0:08:06.680 that would not be covered under fair use, and you 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:09.920 could be prosecuted for a copyright violation under those rules. 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:17.040 But the digital rights management manages to circumvent the whole 0:08:17.480 --> 0:08:20.280 notion of fair use. So let's let's kind of sort 0:08:20.320 --> 0:08:23.720 a segue into digital rights management now. Before when we're 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:27.320 talking about cassettes and tapes and that kind of thing. Um, 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:29.240 there's still a level of effort that you needed to 0:08:29.280 --> 0:08:31.720 put forth in order to really make a copy. When 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:36.679 we get into the digital realm, that effort is reduced dramatically. 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:39.600 In some cases, all you have to do is click 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:41.720 a couple of buttons on your computer and you've just 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:43.920 made a copy of a file. And that's all you 0:08:43.960 --> 0:08:47.319 needed to do. Uh, there's no effort really there. And 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:51.480 because you're not taking a physical uh format, you're not 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:54.560 taking like a record or a disc or whatever. You're 0:08:54.559 --> 0:08:57.800 just taking a digital file. It doesn't even feel like 0:08:57.840 --> 0:09:02.000 stealing because you're not not taking a physical object. You're 0:09:02.040 --> 0:09:04.440 not you know, you can't you can't compare it to 0:09:04.480 --> 0:09:07.920 say shoplifting because if I go into a music store 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:11.240 and I shoplift and I steal a CD, not only 0:09:11.280 --> 0:09:13.599 have I taken something that doesn't belong to me and 0:09:13.600 --> 0:09:15.960 I haven't paid for it, but the shopkeeper can no 0:09:16.040 --> 0:09:19.800 longer sell that individual CD. Clearly right, because it's not 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:22.559 no longer in the shops possession. For the shopkeeper keeper 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:26.440 has uh spent the money on buying that item, but 0:09:26.600 --> 0:09:29.120 will not be compensated for that because it is no 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:32.960 longer in the shopkeepers possession. Right now, with digital copies, 0:09:33.000 --> 0:09:36.079 you can sell a digital copy copy rather without any 0:09:36.120 --> 0:09:38.920 sort of physical medium at all. So if I were 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:42.720 to copy something, Let's say that Chris is Uh Chris's 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:45.480 band has got their album out in a digital format, 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:47.800 and I decide I want to listen to that, but 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:49.880 I also decide that I don't want to pay for it, 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:53.080 and I go and I copy that digital format. Well, 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:55.640 you could argue, well, you know, but Chris, Chris didn't 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:59.200 lose anything. He can still sell that digital copy to 0:09:59.320 --> 0:10:03.000 whomever wants it. It's not like I took the only 0:10:03.040 --> 0:10:05.720 instance of that I made a copy of it. However, 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:10.600 I have denied him that that sale, So there is 0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:14.240 still an element of theft here. Now, this is what 0:10:14.800 --> 0:10:20.880 kind of pushed various entertainment industry companies into backing the 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:23.480 whole idea of digital rights management. They wanted a way 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:28.600 to control their product so that people could not easily 0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:32.720 make copies and distribute them, and beyond that, they even 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:38.079 wanted to kind of control how you experience that particular product, right, 0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:41.440 and a copy protection was the very first version of 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:44.960 digital rights management because it was, in essence, the the 0:10:45.040 --> 0:10:50.040 root of what they wanted to accomplish by by doing that. Um. Now, 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:53.960 the thing is, um, there have been a variety of 0:10:54.000 --> 0:10:57.480 different ways of doing a copy protection. Uh. And I'm 0:10:57.480 --> 0:11:01.280 going to mention one of Jonathan's favorite words. Um. Some 0:11:01.320 --> 0:11:03.560 of the earliest that I encountered was, you know, I 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:06.480 would buy a copy of a program from my Amiga 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:08.280 and I would you know, load it on on the 0:11:08.280 --> 0:11:11.959 computer and it would say you need to insert your dongle. 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:15.000 And this was a little piece of hardware that plugged 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:16.960 into one of the ports on the side of the machine. 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:19.480 And if you didn't have the dongle attached to the 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:22.320 side of the machine and the software could not detect 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:25.880 it was there, Basically, the program would not run a 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:29.319 very effective piece of copy protection, I'd say, but kind 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:32.000 of been practical if you happen to lose that little 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:35.120 dongle right right, or if something were to happen to 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:38.040 the port, for example, exactly if if the port goes dead, 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:40.320 then then you have to have your computer fixed before 0:11:40.320 --> 0:11:42.800 you can run that programming. Right. And then you start thinking, well, 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:46.800 now you've created a copy protection that is dependent upon 0:11:46.840 --> 0:11:49.600 a couple of different factors, some of which are beyond 0:11:49.640 --> 0:11:53.760 my control necessary possibly beyond my control at any rate. Um, 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:57.800 but I've paid money to access this. So this is 0:11:57.920 --> 0:12:01.040 the key to the people who opposed Digital rights management. 0:12:01.040 --> 0:12:04.400 That's that's the key to their argument is that DRM, 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:09.320 the copy protection element of DRM, really hurts the the 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:14.440 legitimate consumer more than it hurts the prospective pirate. And 0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:16.520 the idea that, you know, the person who actually buys 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:21.280 the product ends up having his or her experience impacted 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:24.840 by this DRM, and the people who want to steal 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:28.000 the content will find a way to steal it no 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:32.240 matter what kind of block you put there. Um. Really, 0:12:32.280 --> 0:12:36.320 the whole purpose of the block being there, you could argue, 0:12:36.440 --> 0:12:39.680 is not to to prevent someone from stealing, but to 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:43.440 provide the legal basis to pursue that person in court 0:12:44.400 --> 0:12:46.240 once they do find a way to get around it. 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:49.600 You have a point, Yeah, it's kind of it's it's 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:52.720 it's interesting because when you think about it, drm is 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:56.920 it's like, Um, it's like you put a a lock 0:12:57.000 --> 0:12:58.800 on your door, but you put a lock that's not 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:03.199 impossible to It's not impossible to pick that lock, right, Um. 0:13:03.320 --> 0:13:05.240 And the reason you put the lock on the door 0:13:05.320 --> 0:13:07.760 is not in order to make sure no one can 0:13:07.840 --> 0:13:10.439 ever get in. It's to make sure that anyone who 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:13.440 does get in who doesn't have a key can be prosecuted. 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:17.400 And and that's kind of uh. But then you're also 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:20.160 saying that anyone who legitimately has a reason to come 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:22.960 into the house always has to have that key with 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:25.040 them because the door is never going to be unlocked. 0:13:25.679 --> 0:13:27.640 So if that person loses the key, that's kind of tough. 0:13:27.960 --> 0:13:31.079 They're gonna have to go and buy another key. Uh. 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:33.800 Kind of a roundabout way of getting at this. But 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:38.760 another another early version of copy protection would require that 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:41.680 you have, uh. The idea being that if you purchase 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:45.360 a game, for example of a computer game. Uh, the 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:47.920 idea of if you actually legitimately purchase it, you would 0:13:47.960 --> 0:13:50.640 have the game, and you would have whatever documentation came 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:52.559 with the game. Yes, So a lot of these games 0:13:52.600 --> 0:13:54.480 would have a section where they would ask you a 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:58.440 question that would be answered within the documentation. Yes, turn 0:13:58.520 --> 0:14:02.040 two page seventeen and tell us what the third word 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:04.679 is in the second paragraph. And I even had some 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:08.400 of these manuals printed on dark blue paper, the idea 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:10.160 of course being that you would not be able to 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:12.760 uh photocopy it. It would all just come out as 0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:15.600 a black sheet if you tried to photocopy these UM 0:14:15.800 --> 0:14:18.880 these pages. Now, people got around that too, because there's 0:14:18.920 --> 0:14:21.800 only so many questions you would be able to create 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:25.120 to for this copy protection. It's not like the entire 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:28.760 manual would be in the game UM copy protection, So 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:31.280 once people figured out what the questions were, they would 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:33.320 just circulate that, so you would still be able to 0:14:33.360 --> 0:14:36.480 get around the game UM. There are also other physical 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:41.440 forms of copy protection where uh by physically changing the 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:43.840 disc and this is back in the five and a 0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:47.840 quarter inch floppy desk days. By physically changing that disk, 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:52.320 you could make it hard to make a copy Like that, 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:54.720 that function would not be available, but you could get 0:14:54.720 --> 0:14:58.520 around that too, if you knew how. And that's really 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:01.160 another issue with the The whole DRM is just the 0:15:01.200 --> 0:15:05.640 idea that if you really want to get around DRM, 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:08.320 you can find a way to get around it. So 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:11.240 really the only people who get affected are the average 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:16.440 consumers who don't know better. Yeah, the manual version that 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:18.120 you were speaking of just a moment ago is the 0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:21.200 kind of thing that would discourage probably the casual uh 0:15:21.280 --> 0:15:25.320 software duplicator. You know, um Steve down the street. He 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:28.080 wants to to, uh make a copy for his buddy. 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:30.920 He's like, oh, man, well you know I can last 0:15:30.960 --> 0:15:33.680 name is in jobs or was ni act. I just 0:15:33.720 --> 0:15:36.040 wanted to pick something of the Bob. I usually say Bob, 0:15:36.120 --> 0:15:39.560 but it just makes me think of Microsoft Bob. Um. Yeah, 0:15:39.600 --> 0:15:41.320 that's that's gonna get his emails just to mention of 0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:44.200 Microsoft Bob. Anyhow, we should do a podcast on that. 0:15:44.760 --> 0:15:49.800 Um it'll be like two minutes long. Um anyhow, Now, 0:15:49.880 --> 0:15:51.920 the uh, the whole thing is that that's the kind 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:54.040 of thing that would discourage probably the casual, the more 0:15:54.120 --> 0:15:59.520 casual UM person from duplicating the software. But it eventually 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:01.800 involved to the point where it actually had a layer 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:05.200 of software encryption on it and of course people were 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:07.560 cracking that. As Jonathan said, you know, people really wanted 0:16:07.600 --> 0:16:09.560 to get around it. They could do that. Um, that's 0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:12.840 what we did our podcast on usenet. The wearer's channels 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:16.440 are basically, uh, software that has been cracked, whether the 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:20.440 copy protection has been removed or disabled on it. Um. 0:16:20.880 --> 0:16:24.000 And uh you know that that's a little bit different 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:29.120 because once that's disabled, you can actually just generally use it. 0:16:29.160 --> 0:16:31.920 Of course, sometimes disabling the copy protection will damage the 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:35.720 software in the process. UM. More modern efforts have gone 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:38.960 to using the software key. Like if you, for example, 0:16:38.960 --> 0:16:42.480 bought a copy of Microsoft Windows, it's got um I 0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:44.840 think a sixteen digit or is it longer than that? 0:16:44.920 --> 0:16:48.000 Now it's longer than that now, Uh, like an encryption 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:50.480 key that comes along with it. Once you plug that 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:54.360 in and the software is registered online, no one else 0:16:54.440 --> 0:16:55.640 is going to be able to use that key on 0:16:55.680 --> 0:16:59.600 another computer. So you know, if you say, bought a 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:01.960 copy of Windows, you use the key and you gave 0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:05.240 it to a friend down the street, Um, he or 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:08.280 she is going to have to find another legitimate t 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:11.240 which is generated by an algorithm. So if you just 0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:14.359 make up letters and numbers, it's not gonna work. Probably 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:16.840 not gonna work. Well, the odds of it working are 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:20.760 at least astronomical, at least immediately. Yeah, I spent sixteen 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:24.719 hours trying to anyway. Um So, but that that actually 0:17:24.720 --> 0:17:27.920 comes into uh into conflict with another right that is 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:31.120 legitimately yours, which is the right of first sale. Right. 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:33.400 You know, the right of first sale says that if 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:36.320 you purchase something, you have the right to sell that again, 0:17:36.960 --> 0:17:40.639 uh further down the road, because that property is yours. 0:17:40.880 --> 0:17:43.919 You have purchased it from someone, but it belongs to you, 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:46.280 so then you can dispose of it as you see fit. 0:17:46.800 --> 0:17:49.240 So for example, if you buy a car and you've 0:17:49.280 --> 0:17:51.320 paid for the car, the car is completely paid off, 0:17:51.600 --> 0:17:53.560 it's well within your rights to sell that car to 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:57.600 whomever you like. You or game stores right use video 0:17:57.600 --> 0:18:00.920 game stores another good example. So problem about d r 0:18:01.040 --> 0:18:03.080 M is that it can get it can interfere with 0:18:03.119 --> 0:18:06.280 your right to sell something that you've purchased. For example, 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:11.520 if I purchase a an MP three from from some 0:18:11.760 --> 0:18:15.160 store that has DRM attached to that MP three, how 0:18:15.200 --> 0:18:18.119 do I sell Let's let's say that I no longer 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:20.760 like that song and I want to try and recapture 0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:22.720 some of the money I spent on that song. I 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:24.600 would like to sell that song to my buddy who 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:27.159 really likes that one and hasn't purchased it yet, and 0:18:27.160 --> 0:18:28.359 I'm like, well, you know what, I'll sell it for 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:30.720 fifty cents. I bought it for a dollar, even though 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:33.719 there's no real depreciation in digital content the way there 0:18:33.800 --> 0:18:36.639 is in physical content. But I can't really do that, 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:41.080 and I can see why it doesn't make sense from 0:18:41.119 --> 0:18:43.560 in a digital perspective. And the main reason for that 0:18:43.640 --> 0:18:47.719 is again, digitally, we can make copies of stuff, So 0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:49.960 I can make a copy of a song that I own, 0:18:50.400 --> 0:18:53.280 sell the copy, I still have the original and I'm 0:18:53.280 --> 0:18:58.200 making money, and I can undercut the the legitimate copyright holder. 0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:01.520 So if Amazon on, for example, is selling a song 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:04.359 at at a dollar twenty nine, and I buy a 0:19:04.440 --> 0:19:07.320 purchase copy that song, or I buy that song for 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:09.080 a dollar twenty nine, but I start selling it for 0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:11.080 fifty cents, you know, it doesn't take long for me 0:19:11.119 --> 0:19:13.639 to recapture my costs and that I'm undercutting Amazon, and 0:19:13.640 --> 0:19:15.760 then Amazon is not making money off that song. And 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:19.399 you can see where you can see where the foundation 0:19:19.560 --> 0:19:22.520 is for DRM for the copy protection element of DRM 0:19:22.720 --> 0:19:26.560 right now. The problem is that the implementation of DRM 0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:29.960 sometimes goes a little too far. Did you want to 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:33.640 talk about Sony specifically? I do, But I was going 0:19:33.680 --> 0:19:36.439 to mention one other thing that's missing from this transaction 0:19:36.480 --> 0:19:39.119 going on that you were mentioning. Sure, and that's trust. 0:19:39.880 --> 0:19:42.480 Let's say Jonathan wants to sell his MP three to me, 0:19:43.240 --> 0:19:45.080 and I'm willing to pay him the fifty cents for it, 0:19:45.119 --> 0:19:48.120 and we're going to do everything completely above board. Jonathan says, 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:49.760 I don't want to listen to this MP three anymore. 0:19:49.880 --> 0:19:52.000 As soon as I send you the copy, I'm deleting 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:55.000 it from my computer. Technically, that would be essentially like 0:19:55.119 --> 0:19:57.679 selling me a copy of a used book. He no 0:19:57.760 --> 0:20:00.639 longer has that book. He's sold it to me, and 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:03.040 I've given him whatever he wants for it, and that 0:20:03.080 --> 0:20:07.320 would be the right for sale. What what the producers 0:20:07.400 --> 0:20:10.359 here are doing, the publishers of music or movies or 0:20:10.400 --> 0:20:14.320 what software whatever? Um, they don't trust us to do that. 0:20:14.720 --> 0:20:16.879 And you know, I'm sure in a lot of cases 0:20:16.920 --> 0:20:21.439 that probably is well founded. UM, Because honestly, Jonathan could say, oh, 0:20:21.480 --> 0:20:25.040 you know what, I'm tired of this MP three here, Chris, 0:20:25.080 --> 0:20:26.439 you can have it for fifty cents, and I pay 0:20:26.480 --> 0:20:28.000 him fifty cents, he sends me a copy of it, 0:20:28.040 --> 0:20:31.240 and what if he doesn't deleted from his machine, then 0:20:31.280 --> 0:20:34.360 we're doing exactly what they're afraid that we're doing. Now 0:20:34.480 --> 0:20:36.800 we have duplicated the program and he has charged any 0:20:36.800 --> 0:20:39.520 money for it, So he is making money off of 0:20:39.560 --> 0:20:42.240 something that was somebody else's and he kept his original copy. 0:20:42.560 --> 0:20:45.400 So they don't They don't trust people. And like I said, 0:20:45.440 --> 0:20:47.240 some people are going to do that, some people are not. 0:20:47.760 --> 0:20:49.920 So there there's an element of trust here. They don't 0:20:49.920 --> 0:20:52.000 trust people to do this, which is why we're still 0:20:52.000 --> 0:20:55.040 relying on copy protection. But as you pointed out, some people, 0:20:55.160 --> 0:20:58.639 like Sony did a few years ago, have taken it 0:20:58.720 --> 0:21:01.600 to an extreme right. Why why don't you tell us 0:21:01.600 --> 0:21:05.360 a little bit about what Sony did? Well? UH, Basically, 0:21:05.400 --> 0:21:08.200 back in I guess around two thousand five or so, 0:21:08.200 --> 0:21:12.960