Non-functional stuff that apparently works?

Posted on November 30, 2007 by Ian Betteridge

Cory on the iPlayer:

“Some 25 years ago, the BBC was pumping out BBC Micros to help Britain become a nation of technological literates. Today, Auntie is locking up online ‘broadcasts’ with nonfunctional anti-copying technology that not only takes away the freedom we enjoy with over-the-air broadcast”

So if it’s non-functional, how can it take away our freedom? Surely that can only happen if it actually works?

This entry was posted in Web/Tech. Bookmark the permalink.
  • Danny O’Brien

    Because it’s illegal. You can break the DRM, but you’ll be breaking the law to do so, even if it was for a legal purpose.
    It’s not freedom if it’s actually illegal, Ian :)

  • http://www.technovia.co.uk Ian Betteridge

    In which case, the fact that it’s “non-functional” is irrelevant. You can take “non-functional” out of that sentence, and it still makes sense. Again, this is an example of the anti-DRM lobbyists wanting to say two things at once: that DRM doesn’t work and is terminally broken, and that DRM does work and robs you of your rights. Either it is, or it isn’t – you can’t hold both views consistently.
    Plus, what’s removed your rights isn’t DRM, but the European Copyright Directive, in the shape (in the UK) of the Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003, which made it illegal to circumvent DRM. But hey, getting the government to change the law is lot harder than bashing the BBC, isn’t it?