[WSIS CS-Plenary] Re: [A2k] Re: [Wsis-pct] IP Justice Comment to IGF on Top Policy Issues for Athens

[Taran Rampersad]

Jean-Baptiste Soufron wrote:
>>
>> Litigation is the original mechanism of 'Digital Rights Management', 
>> and it's what got us here in the first place - designing licenses so 
>> we wouldn't have to litigate as much. Litigation costs money. I'm 
>> surprised how many people are stuck on one implementation of Digital 
>> Rights Management. If freedom is a right, which we should all agree, 
>> then what needs to be discussed is the balance of Digital Rights 
>> Management. This may all be semantic for some of you, but I believe 
>> that it is important if there is to be a firm basis for forming 
>> equitable laws and licenses that can apply around the world.
>
> I don't understand a word of what you say.
I apologize. Perhaps English is not your first language, and if you were 
to respond in French, I would not understand you at all.
>
> Litigation is democratic and respectful of civil liberties, DRM are 
> not... point.
No, not a point (and thus I have snipped everything else). The words 
'digital', 'rights' and 'management' existed prior to what has been 
marketed as 'DRM'. In fact, 'digital' and 'rights' were put together to 
form 'digital rights', which the EFF and other groups have used.

Litigation is democratic and respectful of civil liberties if you can 
afford a lawyer. The basis for litigation is democratic, and to be 
respectful of civil liberties. The implementation is not, and it is 
widely recognized in that regard. Litigation is a system for protecting 
rights. It's a manner of managing the rights for a government. It deals 
with digital media. It could be called digital rights management as 
well. So again, there's an implementation and there's a concept.

If people stop focusing on the *words* and instead focus on what the 
technology that they are upset about actually *does*, and address 
*balance* and issues of *property*, then it's less likely we'll see 
*copy protection* with newer names as time continues. You can deny it 
all you wish, but at the end of the day I'm pretty sure that people who 
support the technology of copy protection which they call DRM are happy 
that the marketing has worked so well that people can't think beyond 
what they have marketed. That's quite a hack with a bunch of smart people.

-- 
Taran Rampersad
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