Re: Digital Talking Book Standard

[Buddy Brannan <davros@ycardz.com>]

On Mon, Nov 19, 2001 at 11:06:39AM -0600, Brent Harding wrote:
> I don't think the drm will work in the long run. It has to be proprietary
> to not allow hacking, anyone who has the source code can hack a program to
> undo what the original did. 

Anything (proprietary or not) can be hacked, given enough time and
skill. This has to be the worst argument for proprietary software I've
seen. As I've seen written somewhere...security by obscurity is no
security at all. What does a proprietary security system have that a
free one doesn't have? Well, let's see. No checks against sloppy
programming. Look at the deal with Adobe's Ebook format; that Russian
fellow found a way to get into it, gave a talk about it, and was
arrested, jailed, and is now on trial for copyright infringement. Did
he actually infringe anyone's copyright? Did he actually steal
anyone's work? No, he pointed out a security flaw and told someone how
it could be exploited. Rather than being glad of the feedback so the
problem could be fixed, Adobe sent the feds after him! That isn't
security. Now if these guys had used a free standard, any security
holes could be found and addressed. It's a much better deal for
everyone. And eventually (I say eventually because human beings are
pretty stupid about things sometimes), people who should already know
better but don't will see that free software really is good for all of
us. I firmly believe that that is where our future lies.
-- 
Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV    | From the pines down to the projects,
Email: davros@ycardz.com | Life pushes up through the cracks.
Phone: (972) 276-6360    | And it's only going forward,
ICQ: 36621210            | And it's never going back.--Small Potatoes