I’ll preface this with the disclaimer that this rant is my own opinion and not necessarily that of my company – particularly the bit about The Black Eyed Peas.  With that out of the way, let’s talk DRM.

You may not be aware of Digital Rights Management (DRM) but it is a technology that you likely use on a weekly, if not daily basis.  Most music and video obtained (legally) online is encumbered with DRM.  DRM uses cryptographic means to enforce Big Media’s control over content in your possession.  With it they can make the media playable only on a single device, they can make the data uncopyable (so you can’t make backups), and they can require you to repurchase the media if you, for example, lose your device or have it stolen.

In short, DRM sucks.  But, with streaming movies becoming the rule rather than the exception, there doesn’t appear to be much push back from the consumer.  Are we really going to take this lying down?  Are we going to let big media specify the terms of when and how we consume media?

If we do, perhaps we should give up hope, just go ahead and adopt the following DRM pledge:

DRM Pledge

I do solemnly swear on my public key

To attest for Big Media’s certainty

That my bits are aligned with integrity

To teach children to honor PROTECT-IP

DMCA, SOPA, then maybe we

Can live together in harmony

I swear to shun Pirate Bay and all P2P

And loopholes of analog variety

Which lead to decay of society

In return, nebulous Clouds promise me

To store content paid for, indefinitely

And never to charge me recurring fee

For content delivered so cleverly

So with approved devices I can see

Schlock like Gigli and The Black Eyed Peas

In an upcoming post I’ll discuss the security applications for the technology underlying DRM, called TPM, and why it can be a Good Thing™.