Re:The purpose of DRM is not to prevent copyright violations...
by shmerl on Saturday May 17, 2014 @10:16PM
(#7761900)
> You keep offering your premise 'DRM has no effect on piracy because it be broken' - as an argument, but it's only your opinion, not a fact.
Sorry, but you are wrong. It's not an opinion, but fact which can be demonstrated by observing how fast pirated materials with DRM stripped off appear after DRM-ed releases come out. Q.E.D. DRM never deters piracy. And as you said, dropping DRM can gain as much as 1/3 of sales which are otherwise lost due to users opposing it. So not dropping DRM is simply insane from any business standpoint.
> You don't put up with DRM because it's technically easy for your to circumvent, but a lot of people do and are even willing to forego consuming something until it becomes affordable or accessible.
No, you didn't get what I was saying. That's not how it works. It works like this:
1. DRM-ed release comes out.
2. A few pirates who know how to break DRM break it and make the content available DRM-free to other pirates.
3. Any subsequent pirate who is interested in that content takes it from that DRM-free pirate source never dealing with any DRM.
4. Legitimate users on the other hand are left to deal with DRM junk.
That's it. I'm perplexed that so many people don't get this.
> By your logic, DVD sales and streaming revenue should already be zero because pirated versions are available.
No, not all people are pirates. However dropping DRM will turn part of the current pirates into paying customers increasing current sales of the same content. Plus it will gain sales from those who aren't pirates but simply oppose DRM. Total gain overall.
Sorry, but you are wrong. It's not an opinion, but fact which can be demonstrated by observing how fast pirated materials with DRM stripped off appear after DRM-ed releases come out. Q.E.D. DRM never deters piracy. And as you said, dropping DRM can gain as much as 1/3 of sales which are otherwise lost due to users opposing it. So not dropping DRM is simply insane from any business standpoint.
> You don't put up with DRM because it's technically easy for your to circumvent, but a lot of people do and are even willing to forego consuming something until it becomes affordable or accessible.
No, you didn't get what I was saying. That's not how it works. It works like this:
1. DRM-ed release comes out.
2. A few pirates who know how to break DRM break it and make the content available DRM-free to other pirates.
3. Any subsequent pirate who is interested in that content takes it from that DRM-free pirate source never dealing with any DRM.
4. Legitimate users on the other hand are left to deal with DRM junk.
That's it. I'm perplexed that so many people don't get this.
> By your logic, DVD sales and streaming revenue should already be zero because pirated versions are available.
No, not all people are pirates. However dropping DRM will turn part of the current pirates into paying customers increasing current sales of the same content. Plus it will gain sales from those who aren't pirates but simply oppose DRM. Total gain overall.