UK parliament report on DRM
The UK All Party Parliamentary Internet Group has published a report today that makes various recommendations about the usage of DRM in the UK. Here's a summary of their recommendations.
Interesting quote:
"We did not hear any evidence to suggest that mandatory DRM is currently on the agenda in the UK or US. . . . Although we think it unlikely that, having considered all the pros and cons, that any government would be in favour, for the record, we recommend that the government do NOT legislate to make DRM systems mandatory." [emphasis in original]
Clearly the evidence was taken in without consideration of the US broadcast flag or the Macrovision mandate in the Copyright Act, or the recently introduced PERFORM Act that would also mandate DRM.
The report is also good reading for US types as it provides a window into how the copyright system in the UK interacts with the DRM regime. It would be good to know more about how much influence this report will have in the UK legislative process.
Cory Doctorow is on the advisory board of the UK Open Rights Group, which submitted these comments. See the post on Boing Boing.
This follow an Australian report issued in March that was also critical of DRM.
Here's a prior post with my slides from a PLI presentation on DRM legal issues.
