Poisoning the Well
Major League Baseball has, in switching from one DRM protocol to another, made it impossible to play any downloads purchased under the previous system.
As someone who makes his living from creative work, it drives me crazy to see the major content purveyors poisoning the well like this. I want people to feel that they should buy my stuff rather than scooping it off the net for free. For this to happen, users have to believe that they’re doing the right thing by purchasing their entertainment. The struggle for respect of copyrights will be won by persuasion, not DRM schemes.
Turning what is purportedly an anti-piracy measure into another way for media conglomerates to get people to buy the exact same product over and over is colossally short-sighted. When an entity like MLB so blatantly abuses customers who in good faith paid for content, it reinforces the notion that anybody who ponies up is a rube.
Similarly, the studios’ position in the current WGA strike, that creators should take 0% on earnings from new media and like it, makes it easier for viewers to rationalize piracy. If the writers, actors and directors-the faces we care about-have already been paid all they’re going to get up front, the only sufferers from unlicensed downloading are impersonal corporate entities, and rapacious ones at that.
Stuff like this doesn’t just take the stigma off piracy. It casts it as a moral imperative. Way to go, Big Content.