Open source entertainment
I was reading the wikipedia article on the Sony rootkit scandal from a couple of years ago, and it got me to thinking about the war that the entertainment media industry has declared on its customers. And it occurred to me that some parallels exist between that and the open source movement.
I don't feel any particular sympathy for the entertainment industry. They go whining and crying to the news media and to Congress whenever they feel their rights are being violated, but as the Sony rootkit business shows, they don't give a fart about the rights of their customers (or their artists, for that matter) when it comes to protecting their revenue stream. I pick that one thing as an example here, but there are plenty of other examples of media companies violating customers' right to fair use, Vista and DRM being the most glaring recent one. They're trying to protect an outmoded, obsolete way of doing business by making everything else illegal. The fact that they've bought some of what they want from Congress doesn't make it the least bit right.
Users want free exchange of what they buy. Media companies want to lock up that content and charge customers again and again for the same thing they've already bought. Does that sound like anyone we know? We don't have to name names, but its initials are MS.
- Login or register to post comments
- Printer-friendly version
- 1534 reads
- PDF version
More in Tux Machines
- Highlights
- Front Page
- Latest Headlines
- Archive
- Recent comments
- All-Time Popular Stories
- Hot Topics
- New Members
digiKam 7.7.0 is releasedAfter three months of active maintenance and another bug triage, the digiKam team is proud to present version 7.7.0 of its open source digital photo manager. See below the list of most important features coming with this release. |
Dilution and Misuse of the "Linux" Brand
|
Samsung, Red Hat to Work on Linux Drivers for Future TechThe metaverse is expected to uproot system design as we know it, and Samsung is one of many hardware vendors re-imagining data center infrastructure in preparation for a parallel 3D world. Samsung is working on new memory technologies that provide faster bandwidth inside hardware for data to travel between CPUs, storage and other computing resources. The company also announced it was partnering with Red Hat to ensure these technologies have Linux compatibility. |
today's howtos
|
Recent comments
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago