Applying DRM to the news

The AP wants to apply DRM to the news. It won’t work.

I first heard about this on NPR, and it bog­gled my mind as to how the AP could ever think this would work. Techdirt, of course, has a nice write-​​up of the issue and the problems:

DRM has failed in almost every instance it’s been tried. Not only does it fail to actu­ally pre­vent copy­ing, it tends to piss off legit­i­mate users and limit value rather than enhance it. And yet… peo­ple keep try­ing. But, hon­estly, I can’t think of any­thing as point­less as the lat­est move from the Associated Press which appears to be an attempt to DRM the news. That’s not what they call it, but that’s what it sounds like

via Associated Press Tries To DRM The News | Techdirt.

I get the frus­tra­tion on the AP’s part. The world is chang­ing, and they haven’t fig­ured out to pre­vent that. They can try for legal changes, try DRM, or adapt. Adapting is hard­est, but the only way to suc­ceed long term.

Honestly, legal changes are the next best thing in terms of buy­ing time to adapt. DRM-​​like approaches tend to frus­trate and annoy even legit­i­mate users. If your prod­uct is valu­able, some­one will go around your lim­i­ta­tions. If they don’t — you’re dead, because the mar­ket just decided your prod­uct isn’t worth it.

How to adapt, though, is not clear.