This description of pirates shows just how inappropriate it is to brand peer-to-peer file sharing as "piracy" (leaving aside how much of it is in fact "copyright infringement"). Yes, the term "piracy" for copyright infringement is about as old as the Statute of Anne, but only recently has it been applied to individuals engaged in small-time, noncommercial pursuits. Pirates - the robbing and murdering kind, today more often called hijackers or terrorists - are still a big problem, especially in the far east. Disney has helped to show us why we should stop applying that term to media customers.

Noel, you might want to comment on Richard Stallman's essay accompanying the fourth discussion draft of GPL3 released on 5/31. Here's the relevant part:

"Some argue that competition between appliances in a free market should suffice to keep [DRM] to a low level. Perhaps competition alone would avoid arbitrary, pointless misfeatures like “Must shut down between 1pm and 5pm every Tuesday”, but even so, a choice of masters isn't freedom. Freedom means you control what your software does, not merely that you can beg or threaten someone else who decides for you."

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on this. Would you say that for customers, voting with their dollars is the most important freedom and therefore, competition WILL encourage firms to build DRM that's palatable to consumers? Or would you say that consumers' desires as to the features and restrictions built into the products they buy are secondary to the maintenance of a robust market (through DRM)?

John, I'll reply to you rather than Stallman's passage.

1) the ability to "vote" with purchasing power is an essential freedom of consumers.

2) the market, and competition, will shape the DRM market.

3) no, consumers' interests will not be subverted by interests in maintaining DRM. Unlike the FOSS movement, where you hear ridiculous things like "is it good for FOSS," DRM is not a good in itself. DRM is valuable to the extent that it balances the interests of producers and consumers.