RIAA: If Cars Can Break Down, Why Not DRM Servers?

Posted by Daniel Shain

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Lawyer Steven Metalitz has said it is crazy for users to expect to be able to use their DRM music forever - obviously, music files can break down like anything else. Wait, excuse me?

The triennial DMCA review process has begun, and industry lawyers are already hard at work concocting the most ridiculous arguments possible to persuade judges they can do no wrong. The idea being considered is an exception to allow a legal DRM-stripping tool to come into existence. Ok, so the RIAA wants DRM music to stay alive and simultaneously doesn't want to allow any legal DRM-stripping tools to be authorized to avoid future piracy. Set aside the fact that there are many illegal DRM-stripping tools already all over the internet (but you didn't hear that from us) and this much makes sense. DRM music protects the copyrights of the big companies - A user who purchases such music should never have to strip the protection because they will be able to use that music legally where they purchased it forever.

But what if the DRM server goes down, and you can no longer access your music? Shouldn't you be able to legally remove the protection so you can listen to your legally purchased audio? Steven Metalitz, the lawyer for the RIAA, MPAA and others, says "no". But not just "no". His words are tantamount to something like "no, of course not, are you kidding me?" He basically argues that music is held to a higher standard than other electronics, which have a perfect right to break down over time. He thinks music should be allowed to break too.

This is absurd. Without DRM protection (ie: crippling) music files can and do last forever - maybe your hard drive crashes, but arbitrary corruption of a music file is a mighty rare occurrence. The music industry is asking customers to pay a premium so that they can have something that breaks more often than the alternative. Is it any wonder these guys are losing money in droves?

Via arstechnica

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Comments

  • By: TorrentnFileSharingFTW Sep 12, 2009 5:35 PM

    This is why I download music for free rather then buy it. Cd's are 25 bucks and have maybe 5 good songs and the rest filler. I would buy MP3 music if it was a bit cheaper and had no DRM. Then they wonder why people download music for free.

  • By: Jamais Jochim Aug 26, 2009 10:16 PM

    How interesting. Three articles on the front page of a blog re: copyrights from a company that uses images illegally. Gotta love it!

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