Margaret Carter's post "Problems With Monopolies" on Amazon, DRM, and Cory Doctorow struck me as so interesting that I am devoting my blog time to a reaction.
"A rentier is someone who derives their income from 'economic rents': revenues derived from merely owning something."
Apparently, Doctorow called landlords "rentiers" and claims that landlords are able to set rents without regard to the market. I don't think that is accurate. Studies by Zillow (and others) find that renters will move on if their landlord raises the rent. Advertise a rental for much more than the competition is offering, and that overpriced rental will sit empty.
"Merely owning...?" There's nothing "mere" about owning property. One has the initial cost, the financing, the insurance, state and local taxes, maintenance and upkeep, utilities bills, commissions, permits and licenses, and more.
Following Doctorow's logic that DRM is like rent... it seems to me, breaching DRM is more like Home Title Fraud (where someone steals the homeowner's identity and makes it appear that the homeowner relinquished their rights to their property.)
Perhaps those with a DRM beef should look into The Right To Repair, which is covered by legal blogger Oliver P. Couture PhD representing McKee Voorhees and Sease PLC , and spend their time petitioning the Library of Congress, particularly if they happen to need to repair game consoles such as the Xbox 360 which Microsoft no longer supports (but which it will still lock if someone attempts to repair it).
To find out about the exemptions that the LOC already has granted, read this:
All the best,
Rowena Cherry
SPACE SNARK™ http://www.spacesnark.com/ http://www.rowenacherry.com
Posts
Thanks for the reflection on this issue. The Right to Repair sounds like something that's vitally needed. I'm never sure how far I agree with Doctorow's emphatic opinions (or, in some cases, how well I understand the topic he's discussing), but he's always interesting. I tend to agree that, while DRM may have a useful protective function, when employed to prevent customers from making unfettered legitimate use of their own purchases it's being abused.
ReplyDelete