aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South
Friday, February 23, 2007
Cory doubt Jobs’ sincerity
Cory Doctorow argues in Salon that DRM’s principal effect is legal, not technical. And he questions Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ offer to embrace a DRM-free music-sales environment:
Jobs’ DRM stance has historically been all over the map. He’s defended and decried DRM and consumer rights depending on which way the wind blows, and the spirit moves him. There was the “Rip, Mix, Burn” campaign, when Apple celebrated the idea that you could take DRM-free music off of CDs and load it onto your iPod (if you want to do the same thing with a DRM’ed DVD, you’re an outlaw). Back in 2002, he went on the record with this gem: “If you legally acquire music, you need to have the right to manage it on all other devices that you own.”
But later, an Apple attorney told a tech conference that Apple would keep its DRM even if the labels asked to have it removed. And when Real announced that it had put a Real DRM player on Apple’s iPod so that you could listen to its DRM music on Apple’s player, Apple responded with legal threats.
Actions speak louder than words. Artists have asked—begged—Apple to sell their music without DRM for years. From individual bestselling acts like Barenaked Ladies to entire labels of copy-friendly music like Magnatune, innumerable copyright holders have asked Apple to sell their work as open MP3s instead of DRM-locked AACs. Apple has always maintained that it’s DRM or nothing. These artists believe that the answer to selling more music is cooperating with fans, not treating them as presumptive pirates and locking down their music. [...]
[I]t’s easy for Jobs to aver that he will drop DRM if the labels let him. As Princeton’s Ed Felten points out, Jobs says the labels call the shots on DRM and forced him to add DRM to iTunes Music. So it’s hardly brave defiance to swear to take it off when the labels tell him to. As Felten puts it, “Apple is like the kid who says he is willing to go to the dentist, because he knows that no matter what he says he’s going to see the dentist whenever his parents want him to.”
How ‘bout a live 10-hour webcast from a sweltering plane that smells of poo?
That’s Steve Bryant criticizing jetBlue’s CEO David Neeleman for his YouTubed non-apology:
The same public relations flack who got a promotion for suggesting a YouTube apology should also be fired for forgetting to ensure Neeleman actually apologizes. Because nowhere in that rambling, awkward speech does flyboy actually say “I’m sorry.” And while he gets points for not reading a prepared statement - corporate apology as fireside chat? - he loses just as many for forgetting the first person pronoun even exists.
To wit, this Frankenstein of a sentence: “Obviously the events of the past week that have been well-documented in the press are really something that I, uh, obviously this is the most difficult time in our history.”
Bravo! Your ability to avoid personal responsibility - and therefore any need to answer boardroom detractors or shareholder complaints directly - is almost Clintonian in its genius. Also, good job on starting a YouTube account only two days ago. That’s like buying your wife flowers and leaving the price tag on the vase.
Truth is, Dave, jetBlue customers expect an apology that fits the crime. So while yes, a 3-minute fauxpology is a good start, you need to make a better show of contrition. I’m thinking on a truly David Blaine scale here.
How ‘bout a live 10-hour webcast from a sweltering plane that smells of poo?
