Jim blogged about FOSS and the Content Industry here; Dennis Hamilton had some interesting thoughts in response. With apologies to Dennis for the delay (and the failure of our trackback feature, which we are trying to get working), here are the links:

On "Son of Grokster," "Open is Different from Stolen..." some commentary on free riders.

And then "Must DRM Go Away?" . Here's an excerpt:

With regard to the legal or socially-successful banning of DRM, I don’t find DeLong’s extrapolation of consequences to be compelling. I think the enforcement of a limited license and any payment mechanisms (e.g., rents) are more separable than that. I don’t see how markets are abolished, though I can see producers unwilling to deliver into a situation with 0–priced substitutes (including pirated replicas of their own product). But then, producers are as capable of finding substitute products as consumers are in a free-market situation.

And then finally "DRM As Destroyer of Markets." Another excerpt:

I can understand one fear of DRM that has nothing to do with free-riding. DRM is too temporary and fragile. It seems to be making a consumable out of what previously was a durable commodity (maybe not what an economist would call it, but that is what comes to mind).

But please do read all.

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 12:00 PM | Comments from Readers, DRM & Watermarks, etc., Free Culture Movement, Software

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