iTMS discussed in ‘The Tyranny of Copyright?’

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iTMS discussed in ‘The Tyranny of Copyright?’

The iTunes Music Store is used as an example of the future of copyright policy in the United States in a New York Times Magazine article by Robert S. Boynton.

“In opposition to the cultural commons stands the ‘permission culture,’ an epithet the Copy Left uses to describe the world it fears our current copyright law is creating. Whereas you used to own the CD or book you purchased, in the permission culture it is more likely that you’ll lease (or ‘license’) a song, video or e-book, and even then only under restrictive conditions: read your e-book, but don’t copy and paste any selections; listen to music on your MP3 player, but don’t burn it onto a CD or transfer it to your stereo. The Copy Left sees innovations like iTunes, Apple’s popular online music store, as the first step toward a society in which much of the cultural activity that we currently take for granted—reading an encyclopedia in the public library, selling a geometry textbook to a friend, copying a song for a sibling—will be rerouted through a system of micropayments in return for which the rights to ever smaller pieces of our culture are doled out. ‘‘Sooner or later,’’ predicts Miriam Nisbet, the legislative counsel for the American Library Association, ‘you’ll get to the point where you say, ‘Well, I guess that 25 cents isn’t too much to pay for this sentence,’ and then there’s no hope and no going back.’”

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Comments

1

I don’t believe this is true at all. One service like iTunes dosn’t really let you see the future of copyright.

If iTunes really did cause some radical change in our society, than it should have happened long time ago with other music stores. But it didn’t.

Implimenting this “system” will require the distributers more cash out than the profit it self.

Posted by Pod on January 27, 2004 at 9:19 PM (PST)

2

Hmm, $0.25 for a sentence? I think that is a bit of a stretch. Gotta love the publicity though. If iTunes could be branded, like kleenex, that would be great. Instead of saying I get my music from a download service you could just say, “I get it from iTunes”.

Posted by slider on January 28, 2004 at 2:33 AM (PST)

3

sure, this is a stretch, but you can feel the point. im glad that he wrote this because i think he got what he wanted: people to be cautious of future technology.

however, i don’t see the world of CD’s being completely full of copy protection, yet.

this will be interesting to watch

Posted by Fiddytree on January 28, 2004 at 3:11 AM (PST)

4

We’re already there! We’re all borrowing Windows XP right now, it can expire anytime and Microsoft can force us to buy its new OS.

Microsoft’s next OS (Longhorn) is chalked full of “Digital Rights Management”. It checks to see what files have been altered and what software has been verified at boot-up. Should any files be modified or added without authorization, Longhorn will not load. Do you see the problem this imposes?

Because the hackers in the future will always have a work around…the only people encountering these problems will be honest people who accidently ‘violated’ microsoft’s terms of use.

Imagine if Cingular or Verizon were able to monitor your phone conversations just because you use their service. If you muttered a word they object to your phone could be rendered useless and you’d have to explain yourself to them…sounds good to Microsoft and the hundreds of other corporations it pitches its DRM too.

Posted by Ryan on January 28, 2004 at 9:01 AM (PST)

5

sounds like aol :S

Posted by dave on January 28, 2004 at 4:45 PM (PST)

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