Joho the Blog
An Entry from the Archives

Was your real face copy protected so they had to make this shabby, bootlegged version?

I like the essay. I have a different view of the legal system, and its supposed inclination to use 'leeway': http://radio.weblogs.com/0104634/2003/05/13.html#a1887

Gee, I thought your name was David Weinberger.
why did they put that other person's name under
your picture??

I liked the piece very much. Your right, it doesn't get any more fundamental than "leeway".

In Europe and North America there's now software for almost every human activity. I agree with your conclusion that we're screwed - there's too much investment and infrastructure at stake for DRM to go the other way, towards enabling markets of ideas and services.

So, the direction of DRM probably won't change until its systemic impact becomes over-obvious (in ill-adapted behaviours, fraud, crime, corporate power, etc.) at which time the problem will be much more complex and dangerous.

Just a guess

What fresh hell is this. Excellent observation, David. You have elucidated the clashing kulturs of machine and man. Your kultur is organic, permissive, emotional, idiosyncratic; ours, linear, logical, efficient and complete. Your evolution is based on random mutation with natural selection taking out the slackers (at least thousands of years ago).

I read Ernie the Attorney's piece about the move of jurisprudence toward automating and standardizing sentencing. In a former lifetime, I worked in the Federal Courts system, preparing pre-sentencing summaries describing the defendant's past history. This was the wiggle that the federal judge could use to stray from the guidelines. The Courts would never accept an absolute, objective, automated system for dispatching the adjudged guilty (especially in light of the bad Spielberg movie with Tom Cruise, Minority Report).

On the other hand, while record companies are screaming bloody murder, this is the manifest destiny of the machines, to automate processes and eliminate the need for human interlopers when practical. (You certainly don't want wiggle room when it comes to keeping track of your bank account.) We must acknowledge, understand and eventually do commerce across this interface between the kulturs of machine and mensch.

Humans have deep prejudices against automation as expressed by Fritz Lang's Metropolis, and the current Matrix series which envisions a war for domination of the Earth between man and machine.

Your piece in Wired is basically negative, saying that DRM won't work because of the need for wiggle room. Unless you have a plan, you're endorsing anarchy. Bill Joy writes essays warning about the possible corruption of the machine kultur to enslave the human race. The fact is we're judging technology by the flawed implementations of man, the Internet and the Web being the biggest embarrassment. We assume that it has to follow the human path of evolution, and will someday magically serve our common purposes by natural selection.

The infrastructure of the Internet should be shut down and thrown out, and ad hoc systems develop that are designed to address the problems we need to solve as with ecommerce, email spam, viruses, etc. By comparison, it is just as wrongheaded to attempt to design humans by genetic manipulation.

Machines are designed, humans evolve.

RM - Matrullo blog: Princess Grace, Weinberger blog: the girl you eventually go to bed with.

You're right, the Wired piece is essentially negative. And I don't have a positive suggestion except that: the relationship of artists and audience needs to be allowed to evolve. DRM is an attempt to prevent that social evolution. Without it, something better will emerge.

Machines are designed, humans evolve, social organizations emerge.

Pshaw.

During the civil rights movement of the 50's and 60's, one the argument against integration, or even equal treatment was that we all have to be patient. It takes time for change. What does "emerge" mean? "Social organizations", again is a very vague term.

The FCC should create a portfolio of contracts that a music creator can choose from, in order to have a relationship with the public. Then, we create the technology needed to enforce these contracts. Some musicians, like the Greatful Dead would accept rampant copying and distribution of the their work, hoping that a certain level of quality is maintained. The band (not The Band) are compensated by people either attending concerts, buying CD's if they so choose or other stuff. The point is, a growing number of people become a part of the consciousness of this group. The record companies in this scenario are serving the fans.

RM - INCENSED: we call it the world wide web, yet these blogs I see are distinctly provincial. I strive for a universality and catholicity of scope. My mind is too subtle to accept anything less.

Wir fahr'n fahr'n fahr'n auf der Autobahn
Vor uns liegt ein weites Tal
Die Sonne scheint mit Glitzerstrahl
Die Fahrbahn ist ein graues Band
Weisse Streifen, gruener Rand
Jetzt schalten wir das Radio an
Aus dem Lautsprecher klingt es dann:
Wir fahr'n auf der Autobahn...

Translation to french:
Nous roulons roulons roulons sur l'autoroute
Devant nous s'étend une large vallée
Le soleil brille de tous ses rayons
La chaussée est une bande grise
Bandes blanches, bord vert
Nous allumons la radio
Et entendons dans le haut-parleur:
Nous roulons sur l'autoroute

Translation to spanish:
Vamos conduciendo por la autopista
Frente a nosotros esta un amplio valle
El sol brilla con rayos brillantes
La carretera es una pista gris
Rayas blancas, borde verde
Encendiendo la radiodel altavoz sale una melodía:
Vamos conduciendo por la autopista

Translation:
We are driving on the Autobahn
In front of us is a wide valley
The sun is shining with glittering rays
The driving strip is a grey track
White stripes, green edge
We are switching the radio on
From the speaker it sounds:
We are driving on the Autobahn

By "emerge" I mean: let people come up with ideas, try them out, and hope/assume that the good ideas are taken up. Instituting DRM now, in the ways being proposed, would make it much harder for that to happen. The word "emerge" is the right one, I believe, because it points to emergent properties, i.e., properties that result from so much complexity that they cannot be predicted.

As for the civil rights comparison: Nah. I'm not arguing for quietude but for activism to resist the coming silicon lock-down of the status quo. To arms! To arms! You have nothing to lose but your 70 gigs of illegal MP3s!

Niggling at me since, on my lunch break, I read David's last comment and the ones leading up to it.

In the society we now live in, I think I believe that the majority of people are so busy making a living and trying to cope with an increasingly fast-paced, fragmented life that ...when it comes to something like DRM, most people will just try to figure out how to use it (or avoid it) and fit in with all the other adaptations they have had to make. Awareness of what it is doing/will do to their lives is likely to be much slower.

And, just as importantly, taking up activisim usually leads to low-paying work, unappreciated and on the margins. Where's that burning paltform when you need it ? How can this issue be made to have a much higher profile ?

I watched Michael Powell interviewed on NBC (I think ?) last night, and it sure sounded to me like there was a lot of positive spin in the guise of "our current laws are antiquated, what we're proposing will be/is modern, relevant and full of foresight". This is what the average Jane and Joe are likely to have as input.

There was (of course) no opposing point of view, or reference to any possible problem/concerns abbout how the regulators are proceeding, other than "Trust us, we're doing what's good and right".

Being able to understand that basic idea opens up a vast amount of power that can be used and abused, and we're going to look at a few of the better ways to deal with it in this article.