New Law To Require DRM On Streaming Music
from the all-about-choice,-huh? dept
One of the other common themes at this morning's Cato event from the folks supporting stronger IP protections was that it was all about "choice." They kept saying that the point of having laws to protect DRM is to give people the "choice" of whether or not to protect their works. Those of us who were arguing on the other side wondered why this "choice" needed to be codified by law -- when they already have the "choice" to use DRM or not without needing a law making things more difficult. However, it's really hard to square the idea that this is all about giving the content creators a "choice" when new laws come out that do things like requiring the use of copy protection technologies. The latest is the so-called PERFORM Act, which Gary Shapiro (of the Consumer Electronics Association) pointed out was problematic in his discussion this morning. The bill tries to add new license fees to satellite radio -- even though these broadcasters already pay for the content they broadcast. The specific issue is that since the broadcast is also streamable and recordable on computers, the industry wants a second license beyond the broadcast one. The second one is to cover the potential for someone to record the stream and keep a version of the content. It's basically a way to double dip from the satellite radio providers. That's not all the bill does, however. The EFF is pointing out that among the provisions of the bill there's one that would effectively require any streaming music provider to use copy protection. While some do so already, many others stream (legally) using MP3 streaming. These aren't downloads of MP3s, but streams. These streams are basically just as recordable as traditional terrestrial radio -- which hasn't been much of a problem in the past. However, this bill would require anyone who uses the standard SoundExchange licenses to pay for the rights to stream music would then be required to ditch MP3 streams and replace them with proprietary DRM-encrusted streams to make it more difficult to record the stream (which, last we checked was still perfectly legal fair use). In other words, the "choice" aspect goes away and the DRM is effectively required by law. Once again, it's looking like this is less about "choice" and much more about protecting one industry's increasingly obsolete business model.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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This is like the CDR tax...
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DRM and Copy Protection
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Out of curiosity, where did you check this?
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Streaming Music DRM
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tell us news that we dont already expect to hear. i saw this coming for some time now.
(Score: 1, Flaimbait).... oh, wrong site
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Today's todo list...
DRM, can't sell it, call George Bush and have it wrapped in law.
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But hey, my condom broke last night, I blame Bush too.
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Re: Anonymous Coward
You partisan troll, you couldn't recognize figure of speech if it bit you in the ass. Yeah sure he could of said "call government" instead of George Bush. But now that you mention it, it does seem fitting to tie every piece of nasty BIG GOVERNMENT legislation and to his name.
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Re: yes george bush...
thats all....
tax cuts....HA!.... all those do is pay for the tax write-offs for the rich..... if you are an average joe....and you support bush.... brother, you have no idea what you are taling about.....
VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!......quit being so lazy america.....quit letting everybody else(who dont give one crap about you) tell what to do..
yikes.... sorry about the soap box.....
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Re: Re: yes george bush...
Don't blame him for your problems. The problem is this is a capatilist government, if people want to charge $100 for a CD or DRM there stuff let them, I don't have to buy it, and I won't!
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I say...
In with the new, out with the old.
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Reason to be a revolutionist.
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Re: Reason to be a revolutionist.
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Re: Re: Reason to be a revolutionist.
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Re: Reason to be a revolutionist.
(That's like requiring a car dealership to charge anyone who buys a sportscar $500 because they might speed)
maybe not the dealership, but where I live it's called car insurance.....I pay about $700 more for my BMW M5 than my brother who drives a Volvo. He's totalled three cars and had his liscense suspended about 5-6 times, I may have had about 3 speeding tickets (they can't catch me)....but Its all because my car is classed as a sports car and his a family vehicle....
(Or throwing people in jail becuase they got drunk and started swearing in public and acting aggressivley even though they didnt cause harm to anyone, but they MIGHT have, and MIGHT do so in the future. WTF?!)
again I don't know where you live, but in NYC that's called being a public nusince(sp?) and is a misdemeanor and wll get you a night in jail.....
not that I disagree with the rest of your post, but bad examples......
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Those DRM f**kers are at it again…
OK so music CD prices haven’t dropped like they (the recording industry) said they would. (To curb downloading.)
You’ve stopped (or at least slowed) your P2P MP3 downloading because that's been deemed illegal and you don't want some over-paid music lawyer sueing you for downloading a COPY of a copy of a copy(?)...
But you still won't buy very many music CDs because there's still the problem of getting that one GOOD song and the TEN shi**y ones the "one hit wonders" put on their albums as filler...
OK so then you decide to buy an Ipod and actually PAY for the one good song! Well that doesn't work either because the music industry DRM fanatics already buggered that whole deal...
So you decided to be happy(?) with listening to commercial free (relatively) music in the genre you want online for free...
Think again. Those DRM f**kers are at it again…
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I Might!
You know politicians in America have their head up in the area where the son does not shine.
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Re: I Might!
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WHAT THE FUCK!?
Ooops, they actually do kill people! Just watch the news!
You must be the stupidest nation on Earth by abusing the second amendment but enforcing this DRM bullshit! Or do we have to wait for those 15 bucks per gallon to finally see a revolution in the usa?
... okay, now I went too far. But it felt good :-)
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However, Criterion and Universal Studios might deem this to be "evil."
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In the meantime I suppose I should hand in my mixed tapes recorded from the radio in the 80's and beg for amnesty.
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vote libertarian
Vote for a Libertarian next time and you will be voting for what so many of you apparently believe in:
Libertarian platform
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Re: vote libertarian
libertarianism is a great concept, but at the moment it is not strong enough....it is kind of like when teddy rossevelt, grover cleveland, and calvin coolage all ran for president.....what lost teddy the vote was the split his new party had caused....so coolage won....libertarianism causes to much of a split....
liberalism/socialism is more where we want to be.....a government that cares about the people....i mean...look at france and england, for example.... when the government does something stupid....then...BAM!.....the next day there is like 2 million people storming the streets in protest...
those goverments listen to those people because they are suppossed to.....that is governments job.....
here the governments job is making money and making sure the companies out there making money can make even more money!
damn soapbox!
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Re: Re: vote libertarian
I don't know where you people get this idea. That is most certainly not the best way to make money. If that was the best way to make money America would never have become one of the richest nations on earth. The best way to make money is to offer the best product for the best price. Period.
But if your politics are driven by the kind of thinking you show above then yes before too long using us as sheep in the grinder IS going to be the best way to make money. So please do us all a favor and learn a little about how free market economics actually work and start voting appropriately.
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Re: Re: Re: vote libertarian
a free market economy is an economy where markets are free from government control. the US is NOT a free market economy. we have the fed, interest rates, sales tax, business licensing, and of course taxes. these are all government tools for controlling the direction of the market and by proxy, the US economy.
if you truly could make money by offering the best product for the best price, then companies like telcos, cable providers, utilities, and the airlines would have to compete with eachother. but they don't, thanks to the FTC, the FAA, the FCC, you name it. there is a lot of government control over the market and the economy.
the US is a lot of things, but it is not a free market economy.
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Re: vote libertarian
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NOOOO!!! MORE PROTECTION!
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it won't be long before the oligarchs lose power and money. How long will the people be okay with guest worker programs, increasingly stringent "fair use" clauses and trying to sell off our ports for the sake of the almighty dollar?
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thats not hard :-)
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Re:
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Sure, voting is the answer! Thats why George W. Bush is still our president even after our country spoke out and voted the other guy (al gore) by majority popular vote. We have no say and thats the way they like it. Sorry, that the USA!
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So sad...
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Penalized for what you *might* do?
Pretty soon we'll be getting penalized for what we [b]*might think*[/b] ... how much fun will that be?
Politicians are so busy keeping their jobs that they are not doing their jobs ... which is legislating and representing the PEOPLE ... not the corporations.
I don't even recognize our country anymore.
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Re: Penalized for what you *might* do?
Curious Guy:
your comparing DRM to HATE CRIMES? When are we gonna get those immersive monitors so I can reach in and bitch slap you for being so completey stupid? was gonna call you ignorant, but your not ignorant, you stupid!!!! Ignorant people sometimes don't know any better, stupid people are just stupid. your stupid.
I apoligize to everyone else who reads this, but he is stupid.
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Re: Re: Penalized for what you *might* do?
You might want to try thinking things through before shouting that somebody is stupid simply because they look at things a little differently than you do.
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Almost Forgot
The MPAA is also crying about the same thing with movie piraters. Here is what i say to them.
Put a movie in the theater worth paying 10$ for and i will pay 10$ to see it, but when your chart toppers are movies like *Date Movie* Don't expect me to even download trash like that. I have seen maybe 3 good movies this year, and yes i saw them in theaters because nothing beats the big screen with a great movie. But as for the ones i downloaded, and oh yea i download a lot, most of them werent worth wasting 50 cents to buy a dvd to put them on ;) Its a shame because i remember a lot of great movies growing up, and well, you just don't see many of those anymore. For shame!!!
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The DRM Legacy
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The RIAA is actually making Coast break the law here. I have an agreement with Coast that allows me to download the entire interview for a set cost per month. But truncating the MP3s breaks that contract.
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If ya wanna blame anyone
The government isnt the problem here though, the problem here is the RIAA. I would say the best thing you can do is pirate music and use an OS like Linux which does not support trecherous computing based digital restictions managment.
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If ya wanna blame anyone
The government isnt the problem here though, the problem here is the RIAA. I would say the best thing you can do is pirate music and use an OS like Linux which does not support trecherous computing based digital restictions managment.
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