On Sun, Oct 28, 2012 at 5:26 AM, Kathy Reid <kathy@kathyreid.id.au> wrote:
Sorry for replying to list on this - was skimming your notes Ben (great notes, thanks) and read about ABC cease and desist to Jeremy. Could someone fill me in on the details? It sounds really out of character for the ABC to do this. To formally issue a cease and desist they must be worried about something (?DRM?).
I'm sure that the ABC is compelled by its licensing deals (for example, it buys Doctor Who and many other shows from the BBC) to protect its content with DRM. Legally, I'd say their hands are tied. This puts us in a difficult situation. There is no one entity we can convince to "just give no-DRM a go" because it is not up to them. The best recourse, I think, is new organisations that start out with no-DRM as a mission, and actively go out and make licencing deals with no-DRM in the contract. GOG.com has made a successful business on this model for games, signing big brands including Activision and EA. I think it's harder for TV and movies, though.