GStreamer to support DRM

GStreamer to support DRM

Posted Dec 17, 2005 7:48 UTC (Sat) by lilo (guest, #661)
Parent article: GStreamer to support DRM

The author wrote:

The TPM chips being put into an increasing number of computers may make that kind of restriction possible, but the real target is probably elsewhere: embedded systems.

Again and again we see this battle between the consumer and the vendor in certain industries, and every time it happens, the notion is put forth that somehow, because a feature is attractive to the vendor, it will be prized by the customer. Nothing is further from the truth in the case of features such as DRM.

It's clearly best simply to not buy set-top boxes and embedded consumer electronics systems with industry-sponsored DRM—but it does seem as if this is a war the vendor can't win.

Watching the promo for one of those "weekend movies with features interspersed" on one of the satellite cable channels, I noticed that the topic, on this program viewed by millions or hundreds of thousands of users was, "how to copy your friend's music collection to CD as a thoughtful gift." I'm struck by the collision between the world views of the entertainment industry, which sees this sort of flexibility as a temporary setback, always about to be corrected in the next generation of products, and the consumer, who sees it as the only reason they'd ever buy consumer entertainment technology in the first place.

It's important to stay vigilant, and to fix the brokenness of IP law, but maybe we're not about to lose this battle.

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