Comments on: The Major Baseball League and the defunct DRM http://www.lawfont.com/2007/11/09/the-major-baseball-league-and-the-defunct-drm/ an analysis of law, technology, economics, and policy Wed, 11 Aug 2010 08:06:54 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Greg http://www.lawfont.com/2007/11/09/the-major-baseball-league-and-the-defunct-drm/comment-page-1/#comment-55754 Greg Fri, 09 Nov 2007 06:34:08 +0000 http://www.lawfont.com/2007/11/09/the-major-baseball-league-and-the-defunct-drm/#comment-55754 The tragedy of this situation is that most of these baseball viewers had the opportunity to view and record these games in the first instance from a high quality, DRM-free, digital source - their televisions (and PVRs are such). Instead, when they take the route of increased consumption, they find their good efforts rewarded in this manner. As it stands, anyone with a some presence of mind can record their favourite TV show, be it baseball or the latest serial, trim the ads and play back on whichever devices they own. This is entirely legal of course, until the US works out a way to force use of the broadcast flag, in which case only outlaws will record baseball. The route of illegality will net a net-savvy infringer a copy of the latest serials less than two hours after they're aired in North America. With these elements conspiring against DRM - its increased vulnerability to malfunction (as we see here) and its comparative unattractiveness to both legal and illegal methods - one wonders why the distributors are constantly looking for a bigger lock for doors that don't need to be kept closed in this way. It's a relief to see some companies (and individual big name bands) converting to open distribution formats but we have a long way before the legal marketplace compares to its illegitimate competitors. The tragedy of this situation is that most of these baseball viewers had the opportunity to view and record these games in the first instance from a high quality, DRM-free, digital source – their televisions (and PVRs are such). Instead, when they take the route of increased consumption, they find their good efforts rewarded in this manner. As it stands, anyone with a some presence of mind can record their favourite TV show, be it baseball or the latest serial, trim the ads and play back on whichever devices they own. This is entirely legal of course, until the US works out a way to force use of the broadcast flag, in which case only outlaws will record baseball. The route of illegality will net a net-savvy infringer a copy of the latest serials less than two hours after they’re aired in North America.

With these elements conspiring against DRM – its increased vulnerability to malfunction (as we see here) and its comparative unattractiveness to both legal and illegal methods – one wonders why the distributors are constantly looking for a bigger lock for doors that don’t need to be kept closed in this way. It’s a relief to see some companies (and individual big name bands) converting to open distribution formats but we have a long way before the legal marketplace compares to its illegitimate competitors.

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