....or the empty-head it signals?

I've found it rather useful over the years to measure from the first words out of a person's mouth whether they're worth listening to.

"The remaining emissions are offset by the purchase of carbon credits"

We all recognize that carbon credits are complete bullshit, yeah?

Or they start an Onlyfans.

DVDs use DRM? Then, how do they work on an offline DVD player?

Yes, they use DRM. It's described here .. though the rest of your post suggests you already knew the basics.

And yes, you can play, transcode, backup, etc the data. You're right about that. But unfortunately, you're also right about this:

They fall under the DMCA, that's it.

And that's what causes many of the activities you describe, to be illegal unless you get authorization from the copyright holder.

I point this out not because I'm some kind of Law Zealot, but because many people have inhibitions about violating the law, and while it's extremely unlikely you'll get caught, it nevertheless does come with some slight risk.

Offering DVDs as an example of "they can't take it away," like I said, is technically correct, but DVDs are nevertheless a poor example, since so many routine tasks involving them, are illegal. Illegality tends to be a barrier to mainstream acceptance, and hampers utility in other ways.

Matroska files would be a better, more consumer-friendly example of "they can't take it away", since working with them doesn't come with as many legal difficulties (since there's no DRM, so DMCA doesn't apply).

The EPA no longer wishes to even recognize the harms that may come from pollution. Their basic core function at this point is likely to be questioned and deregulated. I'm surprised Trump doesn't just close down the EPA. They should end the farm bill and stop paying for CRP while they're at it. Then we can see how many of these "stewards of the land" actually care to do so. The rivers will be pure puke at this rate. It's like mainlining libertarian dreams now. Filled with pure unadulterated vindictive hypocrisy.

Translation incoming...
No, it's them being unable to type, spell, We don't want to onboard and train anyone.
and wanting a promotion on day 1 with no experience There's no career path here, not sorry.
while spouting off socialist bullshit in the office. Stop complaining about Israel curb stomping the poor people in Gaza.
Seriously no one knows how to spell anymore. Red squiggles please. Young people are right to be frustrated, disillusioned, and frustrated at the state of the world today. Work isn't as rewarding or as promising as it once was. Further a lot of work places probably have a mix of remote work so onboarding is harder. AI is a dual edged sword so productivity expectations are up and career hopes are very fuzzy.

Yeah, I was trying to sell some fake patents to Harcourt Fenton Mudd's mother, and she reminded me that unless I presented a fraudulent offer, I might not make a sale to her at all.

Like books, once you own a DVD it's yours. No one can take it away, alter it, or prevent you from watching when you want. It's always yours.

While that is technically correct ("the best kind...") it's legally incorrect.

DVDs use DRM. So, at any time, the copyright holder can revoke your authorization to watch them, even if there's no technical means to prevent you. (That's assuming they ever granted authorization to watch them in the first place, which is actually pretty unclear. Nowhere on a DVD or its case or paperwork have I seen any text suggesting that the copyright holder has granted permission to watch the DVD. I guess it's just sort of implied.)

DMCA makes it illegal to decrypt DRMed content without authorization from the copyright holder. Authorization is not something you buy (check your receipt; do you see it there?), so it's one of those things which can be given and taken away, at will. And (see above) that can be done without any communication or the consumer's knowledge. What you did legally a week ago might be illegal today, without any communication given to you.

Since you own and physically possess the DVD, you can still do it, but it might be illegal.

DMCA needs to be repealed before there will be any coherent policies that consumers will be able to make unambiguous sense of. So I think even for situations where the content isn't licensed, it's probably best to avoid the word "buy" if there's any DRM.

I just wanted to remind everyone: you agree to my terms.

I'm told that a few of you supposedly didn't realize that you agree to my terms, so I'm just reminding you.

When did Fox News say that?

It's easy to forget how utterly fucked up things have become, compared to how a few decades ago, we(? well, at least I) thought things would evolve, and one of those has to do with dedicated services for secure communications.

The thing that defies my predictions, is that dedicated services for secure communications, exist at all.

When you wanted to secure email, you didn't use a "secure email" service; you (the user!) just added security onto your insecure email service. Send a PGP/MIME message and the email provider doesn't give a damn that it's encrypted, it just cares about SMTP.

But these days (could I call it the "Age of Lack of Standards"?), everyone is trying to manipulate you into depending on their software and services (inextricably linked; you can't use their software without their service, or their service without their software), so you can't just replace the service or easily "tunnel" security through their presumably-insecure (perhaps even mandated insecure) service. Whatever security they offer, is all you can reasonably get (pretty much the opposite of the classic email situation).

Why do I bring this up? Because the regulations are all about services! Not protocols. Not software. Services. (emphasis mine in all below quotes)

Here's the beginning of The UK Online Safety Act (1)(1)(a):

imposes duties which, in broad terms, require providers of services regulated by this Act to identify, mitigate and manage the risks of harm

Here's good 'ol CALEA (US Code title 47 Section 1002 (a):

Except as provided in subsections (b), (c), and (d) of this section and sections 1007(a) and 1008(b) and (d) of this title, a telecommunications carrier shall ensure that ...

CALEA even mentions encryption:

A telecommunications carrier shall not be responsible for decrypting, or ensuring the government’s ability to decrypt, any communication encrypted by a subscriber or customer, unless the encryption was provided by the carrier and the carrier possesses the information necessary to decrypt the communication.

I haven't dived into the details of EU's DSA, but I see a hopeful sign right there at the very beginning of Article 1:

The aim of this Regulation is to contribute to the proper functioning of the internal market for intermediary services by setting out harmonised rules...

Look at all those references to services! Not the code you run; the services you use.

What does it mean? I think it might mean that even in the UK(!) you might be perfectly fine and legal using secure software. You just can't have it rely on some coercible corporation's secure services. Send your encrypted blobs over generic protocols and un-dedicated services, and the law won't apply to your situation. I'm not necessarily saying "Make PGP/MIME Great Again" but I do think following in its spirit is a really great idea.

If you run a service, what you want to be able to tell the government (whether it's US or UK or France/Germany) is "we don't provide any encryption, though some of our customers supply their own."

Stop asking for secure services. Worse is better. Ask for secure software (which assumes that all services are completely hostile) decoupled from any particular service.

It takes a special rsilvergun level of stupid to believe someone posting since 2009 is a bot.

You still posting from Indonesia, posing as an American?

Context is important.

A giant chunk of the Slashdot audience rages in torrents against anything ~faintly~ suggesting they go back into the office because, indeed, for them it doesn't matter where they are sitting.

Not everyone on earth is a programmer. There are vast swathes of people who do different things for work where they don't get the option of basically spending the whole day staring at a screen sitting or standing in one place. We found, for example, onboarding remote workers is MUCH harder as just the incidental learning, immediate presence & the ability to basically eavesdrop and step in when it sounds like they're struggling with something are all major contributors to new-employee success.

As the ultimate goal of eco-warriors (when they're being candid) is ultimately fewer humans on Earth, anything that weeds them out faster should be considered good news, right?

But.... But... #Believeallwomen!

(Of course, nobody seems to discuss that the logical consequence of that is there were really witches in Salem.)