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A comment on The purpose of DRM is not to prevent copyright violations (2013). Parent comment

Re:The purpose of DRM is not to prevent copyright violations... by exelius on Thursday May 15, 2014 @05:26PM (#7752351)
Right; but with streaming media it's less about piracy and more about ensuring that the default option for the intermediaries is to protect the media, not leave it unprotected.
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Re:The purpose of DRM is not to prevent copyright violations... by shmerl on Thursday May 15, 2014 @05:38PM (#7752403)
> with streaming media it's less about piracy and more about ensuring that the default option for the intermediaries is to protect the media, not leave it unprotected.

I didn't understand that. What does "protect the media" mean if it's not about piracy?

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Re:The purpose of DRM is not to prevent copyright violations... by exelius on Monday May 19, 2014 @09:31AM (#7767293)
Ensuring the media can only be played back according to the terms of the business agreement. Netflix pays a certain amount for US distribution rights to Disney movies. If a UK company didn't enforce the geographical restrictions in their contract, they are effectively distributing in the US without paying for it. Netflix would not be happy with that.

It's less about people using VPNs or downloading torrents -- you can't stop that as easily. But the legal distribution methods have to make an honest attempt at ensuring the contractual restrictions are honored or else they become meaningless.

I'm not arguing that these geographic or windowing restrictions are a good thing -- just that they're a thing and they have value in a contract that companies want to protect. The pirates aren't the issue here -- the competition is.

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