The use of the words 'buy', "own" or 'purchase' in connection with DRM rental should be an international felony, and grounds for immediate break-up of businesses that use them.
When the dust settles, it'll be just like Ma Bell in 1975: There will be the "Internet Company" just like there was the Phone Company, with a probable 'bonus' of an extra "National Internet Corporation" modeled on the BBC.
The SEC or FTC or someone should sue Reddit for using the word 'decentralize' in connection with a feature that's only available within...Reddit! I don't care how many 'blockchains' and other buzz-terms they surround it with.
Nothing on Reddit can be proved to have come from a "user", and it's been that way since the "Great Spezzing of 2016", where 'spez' admitted to falsification and alteration of 'user' content.
They're also easily disconnected in case you don't want to be in a statistic like:
Air bags were previously blamed for the deaths of 31 children and 20 adults--mostly smaller women--in low-speed crashes they otherwise could have survived.
My wife (a 'smaller woman') will not sit behind one.
...Behaviors and lifestyle choices. They do not rise to the immutable characteristics that qualify for civil-rights protection.
And yes; I've seen the sleazy Wiki edit that attaches "perceived" to the definition of "immutable". 'I just have to believe...' belongs in a child's fairytale book.
"Just don't you worry yore purty little haid, darlin'; Big Brother™, in partership with the Manufacturer's Cartel will keep you safe from the nasty States-Righters who want you raped and red-lined."
-- The Big Guy, on the way to deposit his latest "campaign-contribution"
Good points, but we must not relax under the comfortable blanket of "standards", because the Big Boys™ are busily unraveling them.
A prime example is Google's "Chrome" browser, that's weaponized 'web-standards' in the most anti-competitive manner possible. Worse is their bullying of "web standards bodies". This is specifically aimed at neutering Mozilla and independent browser-extension developers who throw up obstacles to their dominance.
Google wants to eliminate the possibility of users avoiding their data-vacuuming, ad-
spamming and universal tracking. That's what's behind their endless propaganda
about 'speeding up your web experience'.
Once they "succeed", all 'unapproved' extensions, 'users' and browsers will just be "unable to connect" with what used to be the greatest communication and data-sharing system in human history.
Concerned users should become familiar with the politics of "international standards bodies" that affect our ability to use the internet.
The use of the words 'buy', "own" or 'purchase' in connection with DRM rental should be an international felony, and grounds for immediate break-up of businesses that use them.