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Simon Phipps's personal commentary

DRM needs leeway, not tighter rules

You may (just) recall how, last October I felt David Weinberger's comments about leeway were right on the mark. Well, I think the balance Dan Gillmor is calling for needs this word too. What the MPAA's new 'Respect Copyrights' campaign ignores is the fact that rigid enforcement is treated as damage and worked around. What need is neither reckless abuse of the ability to copy nor heartless restriction of the ability to exercise fair-use rights.

What we need is leeway, not tightly defined rules. This is not to say that there's no place for legal definitions. Rather, to create room for leeway and the common-sense exercise of freedoms by normal people, legislation needs to include an area of imprecision bounded by a trusted independent authority. The pile of coins on the counter that says we're trusted customers - trusted, but verified.

posted at 7:22 PM (UK) | |