Development of Creative Commons licenses

["J.B. Nicholson-Owens" <jbn AT forestfield.org>]

drew Roberts wrote:
> That said, what is this viral approach to DRM?

According to the URL cited earlier, "Zune", Microsoft's new portable audio
player, has wireless capability and can share tracks with others.
However there is a catch when sharing tracks:

> [...] recipients of shared songs will only be able to listen to them three
> times or for three days, whichever comes first. It sort of sounds like a
> really bad tire warranty.
>
> Zune accomplishes this amazingly stupid feat by wrapping shared music in a
> proprietary layer of DRM, regardless of what format the original content
> may be in. If Microsoft’s claims are to be believed, this on-the-fly DRM
> will be seamless and automatic - which must be some kind of first for
> Microsoft.

And the EFF says that Microsoft isn't just ignoring your licensing power.
According to the EFF, Zune won't play

> Windows Media Audio and Video purchased or "rented" from Napster 2.0,
> Rhapsody, Yahoo! Unlimited, Movielink, Cinemanow, or any other online media
> service.  That's right -- the media that Microsoft promised would Play For
> Sure doesn't even play on Microsoft's own device.

If this is so, Microsoft is essentially helping those who want to show how
self-destructive (for the user) and futile (for the copyright holder) DRM is.
See http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004910.php for more.

And, I quite agree on ceasing the misuse of "piracy" and "theft" -- let's use
them when they apply and delegitimize their use in discussions around
copyright infringement.