Flutterby™! : Social Networks vs DRM

Anil Dash asks what the difference between DRM and controlling which of your "social network" friends gets to see which picture is. I think Mrten's comment that "DRM tries to reach over that barrier" is apropos.

I have a few things that I'll show to one group of friends and not another[1], but I do so trusting the judgment and discretion of those friends. If that friend thinks it worth extending my trust to show something to, say, their spouse, I leave it to their judgment, and in that trust I think I'm more likely to gain than lose, because I extend my network.

If the music industry had to do this, my guess is that we'd see a lot more classical and jazz and a lot less pandering to gangsta thugs.

And if the music industry explained this, and treated us as friends rather than enemies, we'd also be building a society in which attitudes which respected the efforts and property of another were fostered, rather than uncool barriers to be torn down.

[1] As I think about it, most of these things are business related ideas. Maybe on a personal level it's that my friends are largely self-selecting about which of the ways I expose my life they read. I've met at least one person at a party who recognized my name from Flutterby.com, but who waited 'til we were out of earshot of his wife to tell me how he knew me. I think that was back when I was posting more sex links.