Comment Number: 539814-00787
Received: 2/13/2009 5:38:37 PM
Organization:
Commenter: PARKER
State: VA
Agency: Federal Trade Commission
Rule: FTC Town Hall to Address Digital Rights Management Technologies - Event Takes Place Wednesday, March 25, 2009, in Seattle
Attachments:
Comments:

Thank you for this opportunity. DRM has become a major stumbling block for people with games they have purchased and then find out they only can install it 3 times before they will be required to BUY it again! And the requirements for NEED to install can be as little as replacing a video card to as much as having to reinstall the operating system. Games are not the only problem with this. Operating systems are also a problem, particularly Windows. In addition, music DRM (not my music since I do not do DRM) can be very problematic and incompatible between platforms like iTunes (although to Apple's credit they are removing the DRM), Zune and other music online stores that might use DRM. Personally I buy only from places that do not have DRM like Amazon. But movies are the worst. Everyone just assumes that DRM is part of having a movie. With Internet streaming, and local networking, it is absolutely ridiculous for the movie companies to say you can't put your movies on your own network attached storage to view on your computer system, or networked entertainment center's computers, or just make smaller versions of your movie DVDs for use on your portable devices without the DMCA getting in the way and the MPAA saying you can't do that. I think that fair use for your own personal use should be allowed in all of these situations. I can understand going after pirates who are making money off the bootleg copies, but to hamper the fair use of what a person buys for their own personal enjoyment is ludicrous. It is not a good thing to create laws that stifle innovation, prevent fair use of what one buys, and create an atmosphere where most anything you do with what you buy would turn you into a criminal. It is not wise to create that kind of atmosphere for children growing up, or for adults trying to make use of what they buy and desire to do the right thing but are put in a bad situation where they may have a device that they can't use, or can't share what they bought between their devices and/or computers and/or entertainment centers. I strongly sugges