One More Reason Why Copy Protection Isn't The Issue

from the people-don't-care dept

A recurring theme over the past month or so as many folks seem to be bringing back the "content is king" meme, is that all of these broadcast content creation companies are completely missing the point. On both the internet and on mobile phones, people are using them to communicate, not to passively consume content. The Guardian is now running an article from someone who just recognized this. He has a TV, so he doesn't really want more TV content via his internet connection. He wants to be able to communicate with friends and family -- which means creating his own content and sharing other content. This is the main reason why all of these attempts at copy protection and locking up content behind walls is misguided online. All it does is make the content that much less valuable, because it can't be discussed and it can't be shared. Trying to copy protect content is thinking about how to make the internet act more like a TV -- but we already have TVs. The internet and mobile phones are about communicating and user generated content. Copy protection doesn't help anyone communicate -- it just makes it more difficult.