Sun's Open Source DRM

DigDuality writes "Wired has an interesting look at Sun's proposed 'Open Source DRM'. From the article: 'Its goal is to promulgate an open-source architecture for digital rights management that would cut across devices, regardless of the manufacturer, and assign rights to individuals rather than gadgets [...] If DReaM works, consumers will be able to access their purchased songs through a number of providers, and using a wide variety of devices." Slashdot took a first look at Sun's DReaM last August.

Comments

Re:Would be nice, but..

[Clovert Agent]

That's like saying that if a cryptosystem is open source, it would be trivially easy for an attacker to unencrypt anything. Have you /read/ the DReaM proposals?

If anything, an open source DRM system should be /more/ secure, since it is less likely to rely on security through obscurity. And it'd arguably be better for the end user, since it avoids vendor lock-in.

I'm not convinced either, but I'm not writing it off out of hand yet. OTOH, I do have my doubts about Sun's ability to deliver.

Re:Assign rights to individuals rather than gadget

[coldmist]

No, laws NEVER, I repeat, NEVER assign rights to individuals. Rights should be protected by laws, from encroachments by the respective government or other individuals, but can not be "assigned".

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Re:Interesting!

[CapeBretonBarbarian]

Hey! I often read Slashdot on a SunRay thin client! It's nice being in a room with no computer generated noise. In the corporate and education worlds, these things make a lot of sense. System administration sure got easier when we switched to these in our classrooms and simulators.

I'm also interested in pushing the technology offsite to see if it the latest incaranation of the server software can really operate in that environment, i.e. on the big, bad Internet.

Re:Technical description?

[e4g4]

This link has quite a bit of information - check it out. -Eric