http://themontclarion.org

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When you buy milk, you always check for the expiration date. You even look for it on your bread and cheese. So why isn’t there one on that DVD that just came out? Or the new album you just bought? Chances are, if you downloaded them, there is an expiration date. You just don’t know about it yet.

That expiriation is in the form of Digital Rights Management. DRM is an access control technology that content creators and distributors put into their digital downloads. The movie industry and recording industry see it as a way to protect their content from those dirty, dirty pirates and protect their artists from the theft of their work. It puts a password on digital downloads to ensure that only the person who paid for the content is able to use it.

So with pirating digital downloads out of the way, the artists must be swimming in cash, right? Wrong! Pirating is alive and well. And circumventing DRM technology is actually very easy; all it takes is a couple of searches on Google. So what is DRM doing? It’s hurting the honest consumer. The one who doesn’t get their music from thepiratebay.org and puts $200 into iTunes to fill up that shiny new iPod.

Then how exactly is DRM hurting the consumer? First, it confuses the consumer. Did you know that your Microsoft Zune media player won’t work with your old Microsoft Plays For Sure certified DRM-ed music? How does that make sense? These stupid labels mean nothing to the casual consumer.

It also locks down your digital library. Take iTunes for example. Anything you buy from iTunes can only be played on your computer (if you have an internet connection) and only using the iTunes software. And to listen on the go, you must buy an iPod. There is no room for competition here, because once you commit to the brand, you are locked in. It’s not just iTunes either. Sony, Walmart and Napster all use proprietary DRMs, so that only certain media players can use them. DRM creates a closed system for the distribution of online media. And that may be fine if you already got that iPod for Christmas, but what if the DRM server goes down?

Obviously those files are sitting on your hard drive, but you won’t get anywhere if you can’t connect to that verification server. And if that server goes down, or is taken down, then you’re out of luck. So when MLB took their DRM server down last week, people who bought $200+ worth of baseball videos can never, ever watch them again. When MLB put their new DRM package up for sale, they were basically saying, “Tough cookies, go buy our videos again.” Baseball may be America’s pastime, but is that really how you treat your loyal fans?

Digital downloads are convenient, but the price is more than $.99 for a song. Before you buy digital downloads, think about what you are committing to, because it’s more than just the new Britney Spears CD. You are entering into a closed system that could end at any time the distribution company sees fit. DRM does not stop the illegal copying of files; it only hurts the Honest Abe consumer. Don’t be a sucker!

There was a really interesting freelance class that has changed how I think about taking pictures for people. And the Sports photography class was great as well. It’s gotten me to get really creative with my photography now, instead of leaving it all to automatic sensors. Not to mention all the cool stuff I took away from the Adobe sessions. Lightroom might just be my new best friend.

Those are both very good questions. The latter can be answered easily. Do you frequent websites such as Myspace.com, Youtube.com, or Facebook.com? Do you use a VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) service such as Skype or Vonage? Do you buy your music from the iTunes music store? Do you sell or buy things on eBay.com? Well then listen up, because you are someone who should care abut “Net Neutrality.”

So what is it? There is a lot of confusion surrounding the concept of “Net Neutrality”. It can be simply defines as the right, as an Internet Service Provider (ISP) customer, to access any information, service, or data that is available on the Internet. It sounds so simple, you must wonder why I am even bringing it up at all, right? Because the major telecom companies want to take it away, and make more profit by crippling your Internet access!

For example, Say you are a Vonage cusomter, and you just so happen to use Comcast as your ISP. Comcast also offers a VOIP service that is directly competeing with Vonage. Comcast would like to block the Vonage service from being accessed by its customers, thereby forcing Comcast customers who want to use VOIP into their own service, Comcast Digital Voice.

What if Verizon offered a music store to its DSL subscribers? Verizon might want to stop you from using services such as the iTunes Music Store and Napster. By blocking these services, the “Verizon Music Store” is your only option for digital music downloads.

From economics we learn, that the ability for the customer to choose, leads to competition among providers, thereby driving the selling price down. This is exactly what the telecom companies don’t like about “Net Neutrality.” By blocking all competing services, not only are you forced to give them your business, but they can charge you whatever amount they want!

So by now you must be wondering, how can this be allowed to happen? At the moment telecom companies are attempting to stop net neutrality for the second time. The attempt was stopped in congress once before. But the people supporting these telecom companies are either payed off, or are just plain ignorant as to how the Internet works. Here is an infamous quote from Senator Ted Steves (R – Alaska) dated Wednesday, June 28 2006, when he was debating an amendment to a bill that would ban telecoms from blocking “Net Neutrality.”

“They want to deliver vast amounts of information over the Internet. And again, the Internet is not something you just dump something on. It’s not a big truck. It’s a series of tubes. And if you don’t understand those tubes can be filled and if they are filled, when you put your message in, it gets in line and it’s going to be delayed by anyone that puts into that tube enormous amounts of material, enormous amounts of material”

The Internet should not be neutral because it is a series of tubes? Clearly Mr. Stevens has no idea how the Internet really works, or even worse, what “Net Neutrality” really means. And he is one of our senators who is making decisions about how we should be allowed to use our Internet! Mr. Stevens is also one of the senators who is leading the second attempt to stop “Net Neutrality.”

So what can you do to stop these telecom companies from destroying your Internet? Spread the word about net neutrality. visit www.savetheinternet.com for more information about “Net Neutrality” and sign the petition to keep the Internet free. When enough people take action and make their voices heard, we can stop the telecoms in congress and keep our Internet in tact.