Sometimes people argue that, while of course DRM is unacceptable for media you *own*, it can be ok for media you're renting or subscribing to. Like Spotify or Netflix.
That's tempting, but it's wrong! And it reflects the fundamentally flawed logic of DRM advocates: that DRM is about, or effective at, enforcing a copyright or contract.
It's none of those things! But more importantly, it's running code you can't control. Don't let those jerks run unauditable software on your computer imo.
@xor We're sorry, it appears you remember the movie or TV show you rented last night. Your credit card will be charged $4.99 per day until we can confirm you have forgotten the aforementioned media. Have a great day!
@xor The argument that DRM is necessary for /rentals/ also seems to have the broken assumption that the law/technology should make it a point to preserve specific /business models/.
Rental made perfect sense back when films came on physical media and you had to give it back so someone else could watch it. As of now, I don't think there /is/ any social value in letting movie studios act as if there's a difference between downloads and streaming.
@xor Ultimately there's no reason /not/ to have just have the price of movie purchase fall to the price of rentals and the distinction vanish. By all means charge money for Super Duper Resolution media that you wouldn't want to download over a cellular network or watch over a phone, but apart from that there's no point in it.
@xor Basically, people should keep in mind that creator monopoly is a privilege granted to certain agencies to create a social good. There is no obligation to extend that privilege when it goes against or even is neutral to the social good. Consistency of law, uniform terms, all that make planning and investment possible and arguably lead to more work for the public to enjoy, but preserving business models and markets clearly does not.
Anyway this is a thought I have a lot and I'll admit, something that took me a long time to work through for myself. I've written about it at greater length here: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/05/yes-all-drm
I got my only ever bit of unqualified praise from RMS about that post, so take that to mean what you will.