{"id":12135,"date":"2007-11-07T18:15:48","date_gmt":"2007-11-08T01:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2007\/11\/07\/big-sports-drm-you-are-screwed.html"},"modified":"2007-11-07T18:15:48","modified_gmt":"2007-11-08T01:15:48","slug":"big_sports_drm_you_are_sc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/11\/07\/big_sports_drm_you_are_sc.html","title":{"rendered":"Big Sports + DRM = You Are Screwed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Depending on an external provider to validate that  the protected media files — music, video, whatever — are actually valid and “belong” to you is, in short, a mook’s game, because sooner or later, that external provider won’t do it any more.<\/p>\n

And if that external provider is an always-fan-unfriendly major league sport — like, for example, Major League Baseball — you can be sure that it will be “sooner.”<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Just got off the phone with a MLB customer service supervisor.<\/p>\n

“MLB no longer supports the DDS system” that it once used and so any CDs with downloaded games on them “are no good. They will not work with the current system.”<\/p>\n

Great. Just effing great. … As I told the supervisor, this is right in line with how wrong-headed and stupid and ass backwards MLB does everything.<\/p>\n

I was told there is absolutely nothing MLB can do about these lost games. Plus, they said my purchases were all “one-time sales” and thus “there are no refunds”.<\/p>\n

No refunds?<\/em> As Lee Elia would say: “My fucking ass!”<\/p>\n

My info has been submitted to some other MLB department which will review things and see what they can do about either getting me the games I paid for or refunding my $280.45.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Dude has been downloading full games to his computer from MLB, at $3.95 a pop — some 71 games — burned onto CDs.  Because they required validation at each play to MLB.com, and MLB has decided to go with a different DRM provider and scheme … dude is now out $280-odd bucks.<\/p>\n

Because, after all, even though he <\/em>paid for them, they aren’t his<\/em>.  They’re theirs<\/em>.  All the time he thought he was buying something, he was just renting them … and only renting them for as long as they could be bothered to let him continue to see them. <\/p>\n

And, as Les note so eloquently<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Of course all of those video files are easily available over BitTorrent and other P2P file sharing networks and the pirates never even noticed that the price changed nor the DRM. Once again it\u2019s the honest consumer who\u2019s trying to play by the rules that gets fucked over by DRM and then told \u201cSorry, no refunds.\u201d And then the Powers That Be wonder why people continue to download pirated media files even though the price on the legit copies is so reasonable.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If it can be taken back at any time — it’s not yours.  Unless you’re willing to acknowledge that you’re only renting it at the whim of the true “owner” — don’t pay money for it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Depending on an external provider to validate that  the protected media files — music, video, whatever — are actually valid and “belong” to you is, in short, a mook’s game,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[35,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-business","category-media-moguls"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":138464,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/03\/29\/the-turning-of-the-seasons.html","url_meta":{"origin":12135,"position":0},"title":"The Turning of the Seasons","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 29-Mar-19 7:57am","format":false,"excerpt":"Major League Baseball no longer has any actives who played the 20th Century.","rel":"","context":"In "Henoed"","block_context":{"text":"Henoed","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/personal\/henoed"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Father-Time.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":50082,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/04\/15\/well-theres-another-reason-not-to-go-to-major-league-baseball-games.html","url_meta":{"origin":12135,"position":1},"title":"Well, there’s another reason not to go to Major League Baseball games","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 15-Apr-15 10:14am","format":false,"excerpt":"Not that I needed one. But having some fractional increase in my ticket go to pay for useless metal detectors, just so that MLB can look determined and counter-terrorismy? No thanks. https:\/\/www.schneier.com\/blog\/archives\/2015\/04\/metal_detectors.html 'It's an attitude I've seen before: \"Something must be done. This is something. Therefore, we must do it.\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/CCQTVxOUIAA5HwU5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/CCQTVxOUIAA5HwU5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/CCQTVxOUIAA5HwU5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12170,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/10\/31\/so_what_happens_to_all_th.html","url_meta":{"origin":12135,"position":2},"title":"So what happens to all those “ROCKIES – WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!” t-shirts?","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 31-Oct-07 10:53am","format":false,"excerpt":"All those shirts and hats and other paraphernalia get printed up ahead of time so that\u00a0 they're ready to sell to fans ASAP.\u00a0 But that means that the losing team...","rel":"","context":"In "Media & Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Media & Culture","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":44045,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/01\/as-american-as-baseball-and-net-neutrality.html","url_meta":{"origin":12135,"position":3},"title":"As American as Baseball and Net Neutrality","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 1-Aug-14 9:57am","format":false,"excerpt":"Among the many, many comments submitted to the FCC regarding net neutrality, Major League Baseball has come out strongly in favor of it. Of course, they are a major content player, and (rightly) see this non-neutral \"fast lanes\" as something that will drive up customer prices and thus push down\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3671,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/10\/09\/one_of_the_few.html","url_meta":{"origin":12135,"position":4},"title":"One of the few sports posts you’ll ever see here","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 9-Oct-02 11:37am","format":false,"excerpt":"I really don't like baseball. And I even find it hard to get enthused during those years when the Rockies are in the playoffs. And I really should be rooting...","rel":"","context":"In "Potpourri"","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17242,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/04\/29\/unblogged-bits-thu-29-apr-10-0200.html","url_meta":{"origin":12135,"position":5},"title":"Unblogged Bits (Thu. 29-Apr-10 0200)","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 29-Apr-10 12:00am","format":false,"excerpt":"Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries .... Mississippi school purges top student from yearbook for being lesbian - Crikey. Talk about literal homophobia. Idjits. Male fairies enter Pixie Hollow - Innnnnnteresting. Flintstones hawking cigarettes - Ah, the good old days. A\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Potpourri"","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12135\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}