Douglas Crockford

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About

The Hollywood Protection Act

Historically, big time studio executives have had a deep, petrifying distrust of technology. They have warned us many times of the irreparable harm that would come to humanity itself as a direct consequence of technological innovations such as television, cable, home video, and the net.

Remarkably, they have managed to survive each of these calamities, but the fear somehow remains, and it is unpleasant.

Their fear is exceeded only by their gullibility. So desperate are they for a technological solution to their technological fear, that they have embraced DRM (Digital Rights Management) as a way to protect their, and by extension, our, way of life.

A large number of DRM carpetbaggers are attempting to convince the studios that they have the solution. Sadly, the studios are as technologically ignorant as they are frightened and gullible, and so are unable to distinguish between DRM systems that will work and DRM systems that will surely fail.

I think that the best solution is for the Congress to immediately pass the Hollywood Protection Act. It would make the vendors and licensers of DRM directly responsible for all of the losses (real or imagined) that any studio should experience as a result of any kind of DRM failure.

This would drive all of the phony DRM systems out of the market. Hollywood would be safe. And after all, isn't that what it's all about?