In Denmark we have a special tax on digital storage media. The tax is justified as a compensation for artists whose woks are illegally copied. However, this justification seems strange, given that many storage media are used strictly for non-music data eg. in digital cameras or for computer software. Many people also find it strange that copying music is illegal - now that they pay for the copying.
Then recently I noticed this analysis of the hidden costs of new Digital Restrictions Management (DRM or CRAP) in the new Windows Vista.
How should we think of these costs? By virtue of the de-facto monopoly of Microsoft - all users of computers and computer hardware will pay for the inefficiencies of these DRM initiatives.
Whereas the danish copyright laws and rules on special taxes on digital storage media are made by politicians, the designs for DRM are made by private companies. And the monopoly of Microsoft is tolerated (almost) by politicians but not exactly made by them. Who can we vote for that will make sure we don't have to pay for CRAP on our computers? And what can they do?
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1 comment:
you can always vote with your money
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