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microsoft research drm talK
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Microsoft Research DRM Talk
(Originally given as a talk to Microsoft’s Research Group and other interested
parties from within the company at their Redmond offices on June 17, 2004.)
Greetings fellow pirates! Arrrrr!
I’m here today to talk to you about copyright, technology, and
DRM [digital rights management]. I work for the Electronic Fron-
tier Foundation on copyright stuff (mostly), and I live in London.
I’m not a lawyer — I’m a kind of mouthpiece/activist type, though
occasionally they shave me and stuff me into my Bar Mitzvah suit
and send me to a standards body or the UN to stir up trouble. I
spend about three weeks a month on the road doing completely
weird stuff like going to Microsoft to talk about DRM.
I lead a double life: I’m also a science fiction writer. That means
I’ve got a dog in this fight, because I’ve been dreaming of making
my living from writing since I was twelve years old. Admittedly,
my IP-based biz isn’t as big as yours, but I guarantee you that it’s
every bit as important to me as yours is to you.
Here’s what I’m here to convince you of:
1. That DRM systems don’t work
2. That DRM systems are bad for society
3. That DRM systems are bad for business
4. That DRM systems are bad for artists
5. That DRM is a bad business-move for MSFT
It’s a big brief, this talk. Microsoft has sunk a lot of capital into
DRM systems, and spent a lot of time sending folks like Martha
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