The blame for this sits squarely on the users for their tolerance of malware (which DRM is) in the browsers that they use.
Besides, any kind of large-scale user revolt that isn't basically just a mob-like reaction is usually the result of a top-down, coordinated campaign. See the protests against SOPA/PIPA for an example - big websites had to throw their weight behind the idea for it to take hold. The web is simply too diverse and quick moving of a place to expect some kind of people's revolution when it comes to DRM.
To me, the mystery is not that the people don't know about these details (these details are indeed somewhat complicated - I agree), but how much they don't care.
If there's nothing but coal powered electricity generation then vote to change it.
If the company you buy electric from uses more coal than others, then change company.
IMO ordinary members of the public take more responsibility in that because it's relatively straightforward to understand: buy your electric from renewable generation and get less negative environmental impact.
Understanding the best sources of power is hard however, so consumers have to trust published government research for that.
>If there's nothing but coal powered electricity generation then vote to change it.
Most people are struggling just to get by. Expecting their votes to be driven by large, complex issues which on their surface do not seem to impact their lives directly or immediately (or actually don't at all) is wishful thinking. The vast majority of people don't understand these issues to begin with.
>If the company you buy electric from uses more coal than others, then change company
Where do you live where you have competing electrical companies? Of you're proposing that they spend money on e.g. solar or electric cars, well... I think you're a bit out of touch with the general populace. We don't live in a world where paycheck to paycheck workers can afford such things. It has to be cheap and easy or you're just not going to get anywhere. Same goes for something like DRM; until it causes huge problems with the way most people consume content, well, they won't care, and complaining about that is a waste of energy.
Problems like these require smaller groups of dedicated and informed individuals to help make change and educate others. It does actually work. The US has much better environmental policy than it did 50 years ago and people are more informed now then they we're then. It's just slow, and tech related issues are relatively new.
If you started cooking meth tomorrow, and sold it on the market, do you blame the users who bought it? No, the origin of the problem is the industry built around pushing the product.
Meth isn't really a comparable need. However, suppose dodgy crack (cut with crap), or paracetamol, was available for treating headaches: you can choose the paracetamol which makes you partially responsible for keeping the dodgy crack producers/dealers in business if you choose their product.
I live in a representative democracy with extremely limited and polarized choice of politicians, ALL of whom are taking money from big oil. Unfortunate, indeed -- my lack of choice harms the entire world.
And no, meth is a great analogy: sure increases productivity, damn the consequences
Software is arcane, so thinking about how it affects society probably seems irrelevant to them. Even if they do care, power dynamics make defeatism a logical and realistic mindset.
But, hey I hear the money is good.
Who does care about DRM is pirates and content creators whose content is shown without them earning off of it.
Yes I am aware of fair use exceptions, but fair use should exempt a user from getting sued over using a fragment of copyrighted content; it does NOT force a content creator from offering their content open for downloading and republishing, even if it's for fair use.
Yeah, until it isn't.
I can't start GTA V for days since the "Rockstar Social Club" won't connect and glibly informs me that "I need to be on-line"
I would have agreed with you until then. But not being able to play a game for which I paid full price and not being able to get meaningful support to resolve the issue rapidly changed my stance on DRM.
It fucking sucks!
You never truly own anything that has DRM, you're just licensing it.
The thing that I hate is that the marketing either explicitly says "you own it", or does it implicitly or indirectly, or in a way to make you think that you do.
They never, ever put in big bold letters "License this game for $69.95, today!"; not even when you actually "purchase" does it say "license". In fact, you see the words "purchase" or "buy" or similar; words that have always connotated "ownership".
Now granted, all software, and media in general, has always been a "license" - but there was always something physical around; that if the company or entity that licensed it to you disappeared tomorrow, you could still - theoretically - continue to use the license you had and enjoy the media as intended.
That all really changed with license keys. One would think that the whole DIVX debacle would have made this abundantly clear, but I guess it didn't (makes me wonder if the DivX media format or whatever it was actually wasn't created purposefully to muddy the waters; but that's just conspiracy theory on my part).
I don't even think people will "get it" if tomorrow everybody who "bought music" from iTunes or whatnot lost their licenses with no recourse. I really don't think there'd be anything done, except for some bawling at most.
If everything we have seen over the years, including the various massive data breaches that have occurred recently, hasn't woken anybody up to force reforms and changes that benefit the citizens and consumers, well - nothing will.
Society has basically said "we don't care if we or our children get slaughtered" - where that last word takes on a wide variety of meanings - up to and including its literal meaning.
Those of us out here being force down the chute screaming about the injustice, the wrongness, the reasons why, etc - we are all just so much noise that nobody cares about anymore.
Sucks that it's $60+ to do so, but that's how it is.
Progress!
A judge says that everyone has a right to take a single photo of this field for their collection - no more than that. The land owner disagrees.
We're not saying that the land owner should be forced to provide small organza bags for the visitors to carry their cameras around with them; but posting armed guards at all the entrances with metal detectors, automatedly initiating legal action on anything that looks like a camera and then trying to tell the user it's for their own good... well, this should at the very least be discouraged by the community, no?
But being able to use the fair use rights means that you must not be sued for breaking the DRM on your own.
Then there's no such thing as good DRM, since many users will want to make use of the content they've paid for (either monetarily, or perhaps indirectly via ads) in flexible and open ways that a proprietary DRM system will not allow. Fair use is part of this, but not the only issue.
To be clear, I'm definitely happy to support gog.com and thankful that they exist and are successful.
But look how many HNers will bring up Kindles and buying books for them on Amazon where you can only "lend" a book from kindle to kindle (forget drag and drop) through their proprietary system.
Every day 90%+ of people are happy with systems that use DRM and don't even notice it exists. Most people just don't ever go off the rails.
It's one of the worse things about DRM: trying to position your product as DRM-free and people just go "wtf is that? it never bothered me before."