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Comment by md224 | Hacker News Reader

I'm somewhat sympathetic to the argument for DRM (we need to ensure artists receive fair compensation for their work), but I wonder:

If the entertainment industry could survive the age of "DVD ripping with abandon", can't it survive the age of "people copying Netflix movies with abandon"? Do industry leaders anticipate the latter will be much worse than the former? Is the cash flow situation that dire?

Or is DRM about something besides preventing piracy?

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How do you prevent someone from capturing their screen and recording a movie? Do you really think it will stop or slow down piracy ?

What we do know for certain is it will strip you as a consumer of control over of hardware and software that you purchased.

FYI, they literally try to do that. HDCP is DRM between displays and video output devices.

It's supply and demand.

Nothing will stop 'piracy' - noting will stop any crime.

Copying DVD's required cost and labour. There's a limit to how much pirating any individual can do.

Over the net - it's rather instantaneous.

DRM'd content raises the bar beyond most people, so it cuts down on piracy.

> DRM'd content raises the bar beyond most people, so it cuts down on piracy.

All it takes is one individual to make a "DRM" free version of a movie and begin to torrent to the public - and then the bar is lowered to the average consumer / pirate..

Cinavia does exactly that via watermarking the audio channel. Various playback devices are required to embed a Cinavia detector as part of their licensing requirements.

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