{This post is an expansion of a small section out of a longer, non-technical, post at my “personal” blog at strawberryjamm.blogspot.com . This should be it for the reposts.}
The quoted text and link below is from a transcript of an excellent talk about digital rights management (DRM) given by Cory Doctorow on the Microsoft Redmond Campus. I, unfortunately, missed seeing the talk live, but did get to see a recording of the session a week later. It had a bit more zip and zing to it but the transcript is still good reading.
I thought he made some really good points (though I must admit I have doubts about how seriously anyone working on DRM solutions here probably took his views). One such point was around why DRM systems ultimately don’t work: the “attacker” trying to crack the secret is also the “recipient” of the coded message (after all, what use is having an encrypted DVD if you don’t also have a device that allows it to be decrypted and played?) So Alice sells Bob her encrypted DVD, and a DVD player that can play it, Bob ends up with the key, the cypher, and the cyphertext in his hot little hands, and, as Cory says, “Hilarity ensues”).
Another point that resonated with the “user experience professional” side of me, was how it is essentially a fallacy to believe that DRM is particularly useful as a “speed bump keeping honest people honest” (he gives this wonderful example of how existing DRM on a DVD ruined the experience of an honest friend of his who was only trying to do something perfectly legal.)
<quote who=“Cory Doctorow” what=“DRM and MSFT: a product no customer wants”>
Greetings fellow pirates! Arrrrr!
I'm here today to talk to you about copyright, technology and DRM, I work for the Electronic Frontier Foundation on copyright stuff (mostly), and I live in London. I'm not a lawyer -- I'm a kind of mouthpiece/activist type, though occasionally they shave me and stuff me into my Bar Mitzvah suit and send me to a standards body or the UN to stir up trouble. I spend about three weeks a month on the road doing completely weird stuff like going to Microsoft to talk about DRM.
I lead a double life: I'm also a science fiction writer. That means I've got a dog in this fight, because I've been dreaming of making my living from writing since I was 12 years old. Admittedly, my IP-based biz isn't as big as yours, but I guarantee you that it's every bit as important to me as yours is to you.
Here's what I'm here to convince you of:
1. That DRM systems don't work
2. That DRM systems are bad for society
3. That DRM systems are bad for business
4. That DRM systems are bad for artists
5. That DRM is a bad business-move for MSFT
It's a big brief, this talk. Microsoft has sunk a lot of capital into DRM systems, and spent a lot of time sending folks like Martha and Brian and Peter around to various smoke-filled rooms to make sure that Microsoft DRM finds a hospitable home in the future world. Companies like Microsoft steer like old Buicks, and this issue has a lot of forward momentum that will be hard to soak up without driving the engine block back into the driver's compartment. At best I think that Microsoft might convert some of that momentum on DRM into angular momentum, and in so doing, save all our asses.
Let's dive into it.
</quote>
