Apparently, a court has ruled that the FCC overstepped its bounds when it approved the concept of a broadcast flag, a device to digitally flag content so that, among other things, it could not be copied without the permission of the organizations that created it, considerations of rights transferred through purchase (not to mention, hacking, sawing, and blasting through the layers of plastic that surround the typical commercially sold CD) notwithstanding.
I'm not totally insensitive to the position of the producers of this stuff. They do have the right to a reasonable return. But they don't have the right to having that return occur in perpetuity. (Although if certain software companies were more sensitive to the need for support after the purchase, I'd be a little more receptive to their plea. Not a lot, but a little.)
In an allied area, I've seen suggestions that if you buy a used book, you should send money to the author, on the grounds that you've effectively shortcircuited a purchase that would have benefitted a different author, so somebody should be compensated.
I think thats the motto of our litigious society, by the way:
Somebody Should Be Compensated
.
But in the case of the BF, I believe that its motivated by a simpler concept.
Greed.
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