I wanted to pass along this insightful article from Bill Thompson of the BBC on How to right the copyright wrongs. Here’s an excellent quote:
The music, movie and publishing industries do not deserve to survive if their only way to remain viable is to undermine copyright law and replace it with restrictive contracts backed by harsh penalties for breaking the inevitably flawed DRM they wrap around their products. Others will take their place, and I cannot see that this is a bad thing.
The content industries have a choice. They can suffer a painful restructuring as the full force of the move to digital unmakes all their plans and invalidates their business models; or they can suffer the same painful restructuring with a far smaller chance of success by alienating their one-time customers as they try to shore up their position with restrictive rights management.
Very well said!
Very well said, I couldn’t agree more. I think the BBC are really understanding this and people like Bill Thompson are passing this insight onto their executives who are starting, just starting to grasp the concept and head in the right direction themselves. At last, the UK are doing something right!
Well said Matt! The Beeb are it seems at the front of a lot of new technology. Even if their iMP trial was Windows-only!