Loss of Privacy

Here are two reasons why DRM doesn’t work.

EA is telling gamers not to worry, but they are going to force all users of Command and Conquer 4 to be online, at all times, if you want to play the game, even in single player mode.

As of right now, you need to be online all the time to play C&C 4. This is primarily due to our “player progression” feature so everything can be tracked. C&C 4 is not an MMO in the sense of World of Warcraft, but conceptually it has similar principles for being online all the time. While some may be taken aback by this, we’ve been testing this feature internally with all of our world-wide markets. We wanted to make sure it wouldn’t take away any significant market or territory from playing the game. We have not found or seen any results that have made us think otherwise. You won’t need a fast connection, in fact, you could be on age-old dial-up, and have the same single player experience as everyone else. Online all the time won’t cause lag for single-player. We’ve also heavily worked on the online infrastructure such that people with slower connections will not lag other players with faster connections in Multiplayer.

So, first I have to pay for the game.  Then I have to pay for an internet connection.  There will probably also end up being some sort of subscription as well.  To top that all off, if I have a dial up account, I can’t use the telephone while I’m playing in single player mode because I have to be connected to play the game.

I play most of my games while traveling, where internet connections aren’t available.  I also play all my games as a single player.  I also hate having my information tracked.  There is no need to for any of this to happen, but EA insists on it.

Many ISPs are also limiting bandwidth.  How much are you going to be required to use while in single player mode?  If it’s a lot, many players will walk away from the game and never buy it.

EA also hasn’t said what will happen when someone’s internet connection goes out.  If your internet is out for two weeks, then you won’t be playing any C&C 4.  EA hasn’t learned from the Spore DRM issues.  They’re only making things worse and losing customers while they continue to screw with their games.

EA is not selling Command and Conquer 4.  They are merely renting it to you.  You will pay $60 to “purchase” the game and, whenever they decide to pull the plug, you haven’t got a game to play anymore.  What’s going to happen then?  I know what I would do; go right to the pirates because they’ll sort out a way for me to still play the game.  Of course, in real life, I’ll never buy this game.  You’ve lost me as a customer because you’ve taken away the ability for me to play it how I want, when I want.

This is the FBI warning DVD easter egg from Freedom Downtime.

The FTC is finally going to look into the reasons why DRM sucks through town hall meetings, but we already have several reasons why. They don’t even have to search hard to find the answers.

Now, Fictionwise is reporting that any books you downloaded using OverDrive are not able to be downloaded again if you lose them.

Fictionwise obtains “feeds” of eBooks from several different content aggregators, and these aggregators use their servers to deliver encrypted files to our customers. One of these aggregators, Overdrive, recently gave Fictionwise notice that they would cease serving files to Fictionwise customers as of January 31, 2009. That means that eBooks purchased from Fictionwise via Overdrive’s servers will no longer be downloadable after that date. To protect our customers’ investment in eBooks, Fictionwise immediately ceased selling all Overdrive eBooks and began negotiating with publishers to allow eBooks previously purchased from Overdrive to be substituted, where possible, with eReader format files.

This affects over 300,000 ebooks and, while Fictionwise is trying to obtain other ways to get the same books again, it’s a gigantic hassle that should never have there in the first place. If you have backuped your ebooks properly, you shouldn’t need to redownload them, however, we all know that this can, and does happen.

Fictionwise strives to maintain your purchases indefinitely, but our terms of service do not guarantee they will be available forever. Forever is a long time. We have control of our MultiFormat files and we have control of the Secure eReader format, so that gives us the ability to ensure we will continue to be able to deliver those formats to you. However, as noted above, other formats are delivered through third party aggregators. We do not have legal control of those third party servers. If those third party servers “go dark” for one reason or another, we have no way to continue delivering those files.

Herein lies the problem. Yes, forever is a long, however, if I purchased a product, it should be mine. It shouldn’t be mine just as long as some mysterious, third party has control over whether I can view or play the item I purchased.

If you want to wait 95 years until the book is in the public domain, then feel free. Your other options is to download unencumbered copies or try to fight it, starting with the upcoming FTC town hall meeting.

The FTC town hall meeting will take place March 29,2009 in Seattle, Washington at the William H. Gates Building, located at the University of Washington Law School. The town hall will be from 8am to 4pm and you can get your directions here.

You can get unencrypted ebooks at Fictionwise, Baen Books, LibriVox, and other sources as well.