"Digital Rice Management"
Today I went to the Cornwall center, which, for those who haven't been there, is a downtown public-square plus a fair sized two-level shopping mall, complete with 100 year old buildings with pillars in front of them, an underground parking lot, escallator, and a whole bunch of stores that provide questionably useful goods and services. I went there because I might be getting a job(SaskTel) that will require me to essentially be on call 24/7, and so I will have to do something for telephone service that does not involve requiring the employer to find their own pots2voip gateway.
I made a list of things I might like in a cellphone; I've been holding out for a "brick", or really old, really large, really heavy, really sturdy AMPS cellphone for quite some time, with no success; but it's finally getting to the point where I both need one, and where my digital camera is reaching it's end-of-life. Which is convinient; since many phones are digital cameras as well; and digital-camera phones are excellent tools of sousveillance. So I thought I might get one. I went to the SaskTel website, weighed the prices, and realized that there was one thing that I demand in any phone that I purchase, that it might be unlikely I'll get.
No DRM. None whatsoever. I refuse to purchase an intentionally crippled device. DRM Manufacturers and the content providers they serve will not get my business. So I set out, to see if there was any phones I could get, at all, without DRM.
1) Nokia and Motorola are in the Trusted Computing Group. A bad sign; Normally just being listed in the group is enough for me to not buy something from the company if I can get away with it. This leaves a few others, most notably Samsung; but are they truly without DRM?
I couldn't find out immediately on the web so there I was at the cornwall. I went to 4 shops
- The Source - selling for Rogers; An american company, they tried to use the incentives of large amounts of cash-back to entice me into a rather long term contractual agreement, at what could be arbitrarily high costs. No thanks. When asked about DRM, the first response was to pass me up to management (good call). The manager succested how to defeat any DRM he could think of; by taking the memory device out of the cellphone(admitting, that the cellphone had locked memory outside of the memory device, the memory device, by the way is probably bought seperately, for big bucks). Unfortunately when the cellphone manufacturer makes both the phone and the memory module, and when as part of the DRM Spec the memory will respect the DRM settings of the phone, this is not actually an option. Unfortunately, they were busy and I ran out of things to say to that, since they obviously weren't understanding the scale and depth of what is involved. Putting your files on a memory stick will not help if the memory stick itself is compromised, I'm sorry.
- SaskTel Jump!/SaskTel Mobile - The guy who was working there looked barely a day over 12. Also had no idea what I was talking about. I tried to describe what it was, and he said that he would look into it. His solution was to take it up to the manufacturers. This is probably not bad advice; but bad 'customer service' I've ever seen it; While I'm getting customer service from the manufacturer, why don't I just order from them and cut out SaskTel, the middlemen?
- FIDONet - I thought this was a lost cause; Although the lady gave some good hints on phone use, and what kind of plan I would actually want(moreso than I would have thought about otherwise, even after crunching the numbers all morning), she didn't seem to get that all I really wanted was a DRM-less cellphone. Until I was about to leave, and suddenly she caught on that I was saying "rights" and not "rice". Digital Rice Management...confused her. But then again...DRM makes about as much sense as Digital Rice Management anyway..Suddenly she asked what I considered to be the best question of the day..."what Rights?". I had at that point given up on her and did not at all expect her to clue in to what I was saying at all. I tried to explain that it involved the use of copyrighted material...but what I really wanted to say was that it violates freedom 0; DRM does not provide me with the freedom to use the device, however this is both too wide and too narrow a definition; it's too wide because you can actually use the phone, it's just you're prevented from some uses. It is your right to those uses that is not being traded for in DRM systems. When framed this way the problem becomes curiously hard to describe, imho. Granted at this time my throat was really dry and it was getting difficult to talk without having my tongue stick to my mouth, and she decided to research this and let me get back to her.
- Virgin - Not only arguably the best price, and best phones, but also the attendant lady was a limewire pirate (arr), and although she had never heard of DRM(how could you not hear about DRM and use limewire?), she seemed on the cusp of 'getting it'. She understood why I wouldn't want DRM, which is the best of the 4. She honestly tried to understand, and showed interest in learning about DRM and how it can effect her customers. I wished I had a pamphlet or something, but I couldn't get it across.
Today offers me 3 lessons
1) The Virgin saleswoman had her eye on the prize; she knew I was a potential customer and she did not let her completely not understanding a word that I said stop her; instead of ignoring me she stopped her pitch, and tried to understand what it is I was asking for. She thought that if I might have a problem with it, then maybe her other customers would as well. I'm not usually one to say good things about customer service but she really did try to help; even if her products were the most DRM filled at least she'll probably understand and cope with it.
The lesson? Even if I'm at a callcenter; those customers are my customers--their continued business is my bread. They are to be valued, understood, and their problems solved.
2) While people on the floor selling phones may not know about DRM they are the right audience for a stance against DRM; they are young, hip to technology, and even if not directly affected(yet), they can understand, and maybe, they will act differently on their knowledge, unlike the more middle-aged people at the Source who probably don't give a damn if their phone has DRM/censorware on it, so long as their children are protected from copyright pirates like the Virgin saleswoman.
3) Everything I could learn from the people paid to sit at the desk I could learn on the www. There's no real need to go to the mall; if you don't know something, the attendant won't either. They are kept ignorant so they can make up stuff to sell the device.
4) And beyond all, make sure that your Solution actually fits the Problem at hand.
Anyway, I did not get enough sleep last night, and the night before I pulled an all nighter. So I'm tired, and I have been since the FidoNet attempt.
That is all.
Update: Wed 27 Dec 2006
Today I was in the Cornwall centre again, on unrelated business[post coming about this one soon]. I stopped in on SaskTel. While I did not find the guy I talked to before, I found a shaggy-haired guy who must have been a computer geek who did seem to understand what I was asking and told me to talk to the SaskTel people down the hall; I did not feel inclined to go back there so I continued on.
I talked to the Manager of the Virgin Mobile outlet. After having to explain what I was there for (I wanted to talk to his new employee, a lady; he thought she didn't know anything about the cellphones--but of all the people in all of the companies I talked to, she was the most versed on features, the best at explaining, the most friendly, the smartest and the most willing to try to help me in my quest for a DRM-less cellphone. I made sure to tell him this afterwards.)--he told me straight up -- "they all do" -- ie, All of the models of cellphones carried by Virgin Mobile contain DRM.
I left him and found the lady I had talked to at FidoNet. I noticed that all of their models were essentially the same models that were being sold at Virgin Mobile, with a feature added here, subtracted here. So the conclusion was obvious; she had done some research and found out about it--she didn't quite fully understand it, but understood enough of it to agree with the manager at Virgin Mobile. So, in other words, until I hear otherwise; we perspecive cellphone customers are to view FidoNet as a carrier of DRM, and as such dangerous and unworthy of our business.
Defective by design has some information about non-cellphone devices and services that are DRM-free that otherwise would not be; but no luck on cellphones -- does anyone out there know where one might find a DRM-less cellphone, preferably made after 1991?
So far I might end up using a *gag* Nokia from meirionwen-- although aparently schnits has an old cellphone that might work too.
Minor Update Sat 27 Jan 2007
From what I can tell on Nokia's DRM Specifications, my current Nokia phone(A circa 2001 Nokia 3285) is one year shy of being involved with any DRM. Nokia Phones 2001 or prior seem to be fine. Bonus: they are AMPS compatible CDMA, so I did end up getting an AMPS phone.
Minor Update, July 13th, 2007
BoingBoing has an article on Rogers Wireless and their DRM system today. Rogers is famous for other things, too