[DMCA-Activists] Re: [DMCA_Discuss] Ballmer: DRM is the Future

[Dr. John Raymond Baker]

Seth:
As always, thanks for the heads up and your tireless efforts !

What can we do...I am always good about doing the email and fax thing at
EFF.org and at ACLU on all the various issues. What can we do to help.

Thanks.

john
dr. john baker
----- Original Message -----
From: "Seth Johnson" <address@hidden>
To: <address@hidden>;
<address@hidden>;
<address@hidden>; <address@hidden>;
<address@hidden>
Sent: Friday, May 09, 2003 12:02 AM
Subject: [DMCA_Discuss] Ballmer: DRM is the Future


>
> Okay, this is the pro-Palladium spin being unleashed.  Ballmer does
mention
> "data protection" and "antipiracy locks" as two separate concepts, but
he's
> way out there, siding with the entertainment industry instead of the basic
> rights of free citizens.  This is not what exclusive rights are about.
>
> Let's go, folks.  Gotta stop this.
>
> Note that Ballmer is playing directly to the WIPO Performances and
> Phonograms Treaty, as I said was the game:
>
> "The idea is to protect corporate and personal data from finding its way
> outside the circle of people who are intended to see or use it, the
company
> says. Just as songs could be pre-loaded with rules that prevent them from
> being copied or distributed online, e-mails or Word documents could be
> wrapped with protections that prevent them from being sent to unauthorized
> individuals or outside a corporate firewall."
>
> Seth
>
>
> > http://news.com.com/2100-1025-1000411.html?tag=sas_email
>
>
> Ballmer touts DRM to customers
>
> By John Borland
> May 7, 2003, 6:30 PM PT
>
> Corporate data protection and antipiracy locks are at the core of
> Microsoft's future and are the future of business, Microsoft Chief
Executive
> Officer Steve Ballmer wrote in an e-mail to customers Wednesday evening.
>
> In the latest of a periodic series of policy statements for the company's
> customer base, Ballmer outlined Microsoft's ambitious plans for digital
> rights management services, which straddle the line between the
> entertainment industry and ordinary corporate business.
>
> Microsoft uses the series of e-mails, which are sent roughly once a month,
> to highlight what issues its top executives see as most important in
driving
> development and use of their products.
>
> "Some of technology's potential.has not been fully realized, because of
> concerns about illegal use of digital information, about confidentiality
and
> about privacy," Ballmer wrote. "E-commerce in music and movies has been
> slowed, because artists and publishers have been concerned about
protecting
> their copyrighted works from illegal use. More broadly, businesses don't
> exchange digital information with customers and partners as freely as they
> might, because they fear it could fall into the wrong hands."
>
> The e-mail contained few if any new tidbits of information about details
of
> Microsoft's technology or strategy. But as a policy statement, it
> highlighted for customers one of the key features that the software
company
> sees as an impetus for growth across its product line in the next few
years.
>
> Most digital rights management news in the past few years has focused on
> media businesses such as music and movies. A generation of companies rose
> hoping to sell antipiracy technology to record labels and movie studios,
and
> fell again after gaining little traction with the entertainment giants.
>
> Microsoft, which is now seeing its technology protect songs distributed
> through subscription music services and even packaged on CDs themselves,
has
> been one of the few companies starting to see significant support.
>
> As outlined by Ballmer in Wednesday's e-mail and elsewhere, the company
> takes a much broader view of rights management technology, however.
>
> The company has built a different set of tools it dubs Windows Rights
> Management Services, which will form a key component of the upcoming
Windows
> Sever 2003 product and will ultimately work with other products such as
> Office and Outlook.
>
> The idea is to protect corporate and personal data from finding its way
> outside the circle of people who are intended to see or use it, the
company
> says. Just as songs could be pre-loaded with rules that prevent them from
> being copied or distributed online, e-mails or Word documents could be
> wrapped with protections that prevent them from being sent to unauthorized
> individuals or outside a corporate firewall.
>
> "As these technologies become widespread, their protection will help
> encourage wider sharing of information within and between organizations,
> improving communication and productivity by assuring information workers
of
> the confidentiality of their documents and data," Ballmer wrote.
>
> The strategy is still in its early stages and--in its broadest terms--has
> drawn criticism from proponents of non-Microsoft operating systems and
> tools. Open-source advocates in particular are worried that Microsoft's
> broader "Trustworthy Computing" campaign, which would involve
authenticating
> software programs as well as documents and media files, is in part aimed
at
> pushing software such as the Linux operating system out of the market.
>
> Microsoft has not set pricing for its corporate Rights Management Services
> product, or indicated whether it would involve a recurring subscription
fee
> or a more typical license.
>
> --
>
> DRM is Theft!  We are the Stakeholders!
>
> New Yorkers for Fair Use
> http://www.nyfairuse.org
>
> [CC] Counter-copyright: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/cc/cc.html
>
> I reserve no rights restricting copying, modification or distribution of
> this incidentally recorded communication.  Original authorship should be
> attributed reasonably, but only so far as such an expectation might hold
for
> usual practice in ordinary social discourse to which one holds no claim of
> exclusive rights.
>
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