The DRM Scorecard

An anonymous reader writes "InfoWeek blogger Alex Wolfe put together a scorecard which makes the obvious but interesting point that, when you list every major DRM technology implemented to "protect" music and video, they've all been cracked. This includes Apple's FairPlay, Microsoft's Windows Media DRM, the old-style Content Scrambling System (CSS) used on early DVDs and the new AACS for high-definition DVDs. And of course there was the Sony Rootkit disaster of 2005. Can anyone think of a DRM technology which hasn't been cracked, and of course this begs the obvious question: Why doesn't the industry just give up and go DRM-free?"

Comments

Re:Geeks do- everyone else doesn't.

[AvitarX]

Are you joking?

I know a lot of people who were happily downloading away using Napster. They do not know how to put a hole in their firewall to use something that requires it though.

The sources I use for "Linux Distros" and other large downloads don't exist to the average person. Try it.

Ask a cousin or nephew for a copy of a CD they own, I bet they can do it using iTunes or WMP. Now ask them for a copy of a DVD they own, I bet they can't do it.

Now ask someone if they know what a newsgroup is, or a torrent file, or even a more traditional p2p program.

I have found 2 classes of people who know how to download stuff:
1) rednecks
2) geeks
Normal people have no idea.

Re:perhaps it was too subtle.

[morsdeus]

Does the abbreviation '2W' mean anything to you? If it doesn't, totally ignore this, it's my not-so-stealth way of inquiring as to whether you're the one person I've met (in the meat) whose pet peeve is misuse of that phrase, and who also reads /.

--CJ--