In drunkenbatman we trust

shock and awe

I had the inbox down to 98 unreads, but the equilibrium point for it seems to be responding to 10 a day, which means it's backed up while I'm trying to figure out what Steve Jobs is doing in Playa de Oro, and whether it means Mac OS 10.6 will be code named jaguarundi or margay, along with how quickly the obvious more ghey moniker would follow the second.

While it isn't ideal, because there were amusing nuggets in some of those emails, we're going to do the paraphrased-questions thing again, because the inbox must get below 200 before I can try my hand at making sweet potato biscuits tomorrow. This time it's aggregating questions about two previous posts, the video iPod, and DRM...

Hey drunkenbatman, it looks like everything you said in 1,2,3,4 -- I Declare IM War came true, except you said there'd be three, but the agreement is just with Yahoo. Where's AOL?

Patience. While I caveated that info, I did give it a 9 out of 10 on the solidity scale, and that hasn't changed.

When it comes to AOL... well, management at AOL is having spasms at the moment, like a cart with horses tied to each side all trying to pull in different directions, so it may be on hold or -- more likely -- is being held as leverage during negotiations of a larger agreement. Combine this with a brain drain akin to Apple's in the 90s and a marketing department given more reign than they should, and you end up with force-fed "AIMBots" and Netscape releases that make one cry like the baby jebus.

Anywho, in addition to what's in that post, I'd only add to keep your ears pointed towards the mobile phone carriers. I've heard rumbles from several directions that they may be chafing a bit under the IM hegemony, and taking a renewed interest in multi-protocol technologies. Fun.

Hey drunkenbatman, you were right in The Content Squeeze in saying the video store was just a bit away, but you were wrong in calling it a "movie store" when it is actually TV and music videos.

Yep, I was. While the music videos weren't, the television thing was a complete surprise. Every rumble I'd picked up said the major holdup was the licensing, and the way television is licensed six ways to Sunday to get a show on the air is positively byzantine even compared to movies. I haven't really looked into it, but would be interested in knowing how that worked out, but not interested enough to put in any real effort.

Although if I was looking into it, I'd start with why the particular shows that are available were chosen, and what separated them out from the general population in terms of companies involved and rights involved. Since Nightstalker is in there, it wasn't about high ratings, as the plug has (thankfully) already been pulled on the series.

Hey drunkenbatman, Apple released a video iPod and you didn't talk about it.

Swap out the name and specifics in This one goes to Eleven and you'll have most of my thoughts on it, except there are cases where I might actually use it sometimes. If it costs the same as the previous model, no harm having it in, but it's not a great mobile video player due to the size and resolution of the screen.

I've played around with one, and I wouldn't watch a movie on it, and I wouldn't even want to watch Lost on it, let alone Doctor Who or Myth Busters or Rome or even something like Iron Chef, as there are portable players in the same space with much better (and larger) screens, but those aren't the best for music.

I would watch things like The Daily Show or Meet the Press or Charlie Rose on it, because you really just need "expression impressions" to enjoy them and it isn't about atmosphere and detail, so that's cool.

Hey drunkenbatman, Sony just tried to take over the world with freakshow DRM, and you haven't said a word about it. What the hell, man?

I think about digital rights management every day, and have a conversation related to it every few days. If you've been around over the last few months, trying to raise awareness of DRM being an issue worthy of discussion has kinda been on my front burner. I haven't talked about the Sony thing because truth be told, I'm not really worried about it -- It was a freakshow, and it's going to play out how these things play out.

I'm much more worried about what comes after, and is embraced with the phrase "It's not as bad as what Sony was..." These types of issues play out on a sliding scale, and like Intelligent Design proponents, even having them at the table runs the danger of skewing things to the point where what might be tolerable will eventually encroach into territory most people don't want to end up in.

Up until 6 months or so ago, I was still on the fence about DRM -- as I noted in Yin & Yang and its redux almost two years ago, I think there are interesting aspects to some of the technology involved in implementing it, and I try to avoid knee-jerking. I'll talk to someone from say, a Secure Linux project who, after enough beers, will agree there is interesting tech -- assuming the individual holds the keys. However, I believe public companies play within a predefined rule-set, and given the chance, every single one of them will fall into the same patterns.

What you may consider reasonable now may most likely become unreasonable given the chance. This isn't an Apple thing, or a Microsoft thing, or a Sony thing, it's a future thing. Sony's insanity was too-much-too-sexy, and gave people a whiff of the aroma of a future many don't want to end up in, where personal computer becomes synonymous with leased appliance for digital distribution. They all want those dollars, and no matter which you're a fan of, you'll end up having to make apologies for them eventually.

The problem is, a lot of geeks who read the site use things like the iTunes Music Store, basically because the future hasn't really been a factor in their decision, or it has, but the short-term convenience outweighed it because they didn't think that hard. You can reach those people with intelligent arguments about the implications, because geeks care about the future of technology and the individual's role in it.

Your average "tech-enthusiast" jumping on whatever is new is a different story, but doable, as you just have to make DRM uncool. Your average fanboy is a lost a cause, because they care more about Apple or BrandX than they do about the technology itself, because they have psychologically aligned themselves to the brand, not the tech.

The fanboys are slightly sad, because they actually end up becoming an active part of bringing on the future no one really wants, and they don't really want, by attacking those trying to make it a discussion on ideological grounds -- if something can hurt their brand, it's dangerous. You shall know them by statements akin to: "There is no evidence this is what they are intending to do, so yeah, it's possible, but..." Add in some ulterior motives because polarization helps page hits, sprinkle with vilification, and you have the usual pattern that plays out.

Per capita, they're much more common on the Mac side of things than other platforms, which is all the more dangerous because Apple just happens to be pushing some of the most currently convenient DRM.

There's little point in trying with them, because explaining that it's not about their Favorite Brand™, but rather the technology, just doesn't really compute -- the messenger is as important to them as the message to them, and getting past their shields is more effort than it's really worth. Many will be posting in forums about the evils of Sony CDs while buying iTMS gift cards for Christmas, so you can't even factor them in.

This leaves Joe Public, and unfortunately, Joe Public doesn't live and breathe technology, and as such lacks the context to understand why the brave new world may not have their interests at heart in the long term, even if it makes some things convenient in the short term.

Unfortunately, explaining to them why accepting DRM as a given is so dangerous is like plucking someone off the street and explaining why things like the Patriot Act are so dangerous. They're missing the volumes of context you have in your head leading you there, and without having the history in their heads, they're weighing your what-ifs versus "If you're not a pirate or doing xyz, you have nothing to worry about and xyz to gain..." being slipped into their other ear.

For those you'd ask to fight, I've learned people prefer to cheer instead of fight, and for those who do want to fight the future, they quickly learn that context doesn't fit into a sound bite. Propaganda does, but this can often be the easiest way to becoming that which you are fighting against. In my mind, the dangers of the DMCA were easier to explain to someone without the context than DRM, yet we saw how that is playing out, and the future of the individual's rights in technology looks pretty bleak.

Try to forgive the iTMS users, for they know not what they do.

yummy alcohol posted button Posted by drunkenbatman
    November 23, 2005, at 08:54 PM


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