DRM troubles drive ex-Microsoft employee to Linux

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Criminal Vandalism

Region codes clearly should have been disallowed as a matter of restraint of trade.

However, the enforcement of a limited number of region changes in hardware should have been prosecuted as criminal vandalism.

It's worse than a virus in a way -- virii don't inflict permanent damage to your hardware. A bilingual household will get their DVD drive destroyed in a week if they're not careful.

At least with virii, you can protect with backups, etc.

Anyone who knows me knows I'm not prone to hyperbole or extreme solutions. But I seriously believe, as a matter of law and justice, that everyone involved in the region code conspiracy should have served jail time.

Had that occurred, perhaps Apple would think twice about iBricking hacked iPhones.

There are a few glitches in my position that would have to be sorted out in the legal system -- should we apply it to Microsoft for mBricking my Windows 2000 box with bad Windows Update updates? Civilly liable for a Windows 2000 CD to repair it, perhaps, but I'd say criminal charges should require a showing of intent.

The intent is clearly there with region codes. It's strongly suspected in iBricking iPhones, though I really don't know. I don't iPhone, so I'll leave the speculation to others.

But probably the worst you could say about Microsoft is that they didn't particularly care if they mBricked my 2000 box. Software would be a dangerous business if "not caring enough about each individual customer" were a criminal charge.

But to bring this back to DRM -- there should be consequences in law for failed DRM. Customers should have recourse, individually and as a class. We could let economics and tort sort out whether DRM is a good idea or not...but I think if it were clear enough that economics and tort were GOING to sort it out, and the MPAA didn't just get to impose its wishes without consequence, then maybe a few boards would think twice about the wisdom.

Maybe not Sony, though -- thinking twice about the wisdom of their acts hasn't been their forte to date, even after governments started coming after them in court.

But our lawmakers could help with this, by spelling out clear standards for what is acceptable, and what redress can be sought civilly, and what behavior is criminal, without relying on broader legal definitions like sabotage and vandalism.

Posted by: Bob.Kerns   Posted on: 10/01/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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