libdvdcss

[Anders Karlsson]

On Sat, 2006-06-03 at 09:35 -0400, Shawn McMahon wrote:
> On Sat, 2006-06-03 at 11:52 +0100, Anders Karlsson wrote:
> >
> > Or there is the smartest solution of all, don't but content that has CSS
> > or any other form of DRM. Once enough people do this, the incentive to
> > use DRM disappears and there will be no need to include libdvdcss or
> > other legally dubious solutions to access content.
> 
> The inherent assumption there, that "enough people" will do this, is
> unsupported and, in my opinion, unsupportable.  If anything, I think the
> public has pretty well proven that they'll buy any DRM that doesn't
> cross a line that's well up into the customer's face.

No, it was the legal approach. The approach that most likely will
achieve the aim of removing DRM and adjusting copyrights back to a sane
level is civil disobedience, rife piracy and breaking every copy
prevention technology that exists.

However, advocating that stance is not sensible, nor very clever, in an
open forum such as this.

> > Not watching DVD's on my Linux desktop is a small price to pay to get
> > rid of DRM once and for all.
> 
> I would agree with that, but it's not the case.  You're paying the price
> without getting the benefit you desire.  This does not mean you'll
> necessarily change your choice nor that I think you should; but thinking
> you're contributing to change is wishful at best.

I am well aware the vast majority of users are sheep (pardon the
expression, but it best describes the mentality) that with a glazed over
look will carry on as they have "because everyone else does".

Fortunately, the actions in Sweden by the Police/Justice Department with
regards to ThePirateBay should start highlighting the massive flaws in
the plans by the content producers.

> Meanwhile, people who might become Ubuntu users still want to watch
> DVDs.  We as a community need to be on the same page as to how we
> accommodate them.  Frankly, I think this issue is key, because the
> answers to the questions it raises work into a lot of other components a
> lot of people desire.  It ought to be Ubuntu bug #2, and fixing it is a
> dependency for fixing #1 unless something far outside our control
> changes.

By all means guide people to get DVD's playing on their newly installed
Ubuntu systems, but make sure they are aware that certain ways to
achieve that end is of questionable legality and can land them with
heavy fines or in jail.

Bug #1 is a smaller issue compared to how *AA is pressuring governments
into toeing the line so *AA can line its pockets further and sustain a
business model that should have died a decade ago.

-- 
Anders Karlsson <trudheim at gmail.com>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: smime.p7s
Type: application/x-pkcs7-signature
Size: 3838 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/sounder/attachments/20060603/e7ba12e7/smime.bin