Good blog post on why Apple iTunes DRM — and other DRM systems — that convey the message "you don't own the music you buy, you merely license it," make for such unsatisfying experiences.
We are outraged at the theft of a bicycle. We would be astonished to find bank executives having lunch on our patio, ("actually, if you read the contract, you will see we own this part of your house-the whole yard actually. Hank's gone to get his barbeque.") We would be unhappy to get a note from J. Crew telling us that the expiry date for your new shoes has been moved forward and that we must cease and desist in their public display. No, as we understand and feel it, we own these things as if ownership were outright and in perpetuity.
Ownership has this quality in part because the things we own are part of what Goffman would call our identity kit–they help define who we are, both inwardly and outwardly. Strip us of these things, and our lives become, as Lear put it, "cheap as beasts." Naturally, we regard the most "telling" of our possessions as if they were strategic resources and we defend them as governments do. Our security depends on their security.
(Thanks, Manish!)
