% fortune -ae paul murphy

Walt Mossberg on DRM

A November 2005 polemic by CNET's Molly Wood led me to an interesting column by The Wall Street Journal's Walther Mossberg. Here's part of his discussion of consumer DRM issues:







This seems to me to be both eminently reasonable and ultimately inevitable; but also something a lot of digital content providers will fight tooth and nail -largely because doing so is in the best interests of the lawyers who will advise them on whether to fight it or not.

There is some potential here for a hail Mary pass to succeed: quick action by the U.S. Congress or the British Parliament could turn Mossberg's prescription to national law and thus drive adoption elsewhere, but it's much less likely, I believe, than a long grim fight.

You wouldn't think there would be much IT content to this debate - but there is, and it's not limited to Apple's temporary success with its ipod and associated music (and soon) video services. No, the big guy putting his largest and most maligned parts on the block here is Microsoft - they're betting the farm on making themselves, via the nexus software being built into the firmware on the X360 and its successors, the prefered DRM provider for digital content producers worldwide. And this, remember, from a company that initially grew market share (and is still doing so in some countries) by silently encouraging "illegal" copying.

You've heard of the unopposible force meeting the immoveable object? Stay tuned to DRM: as obviously sensible solutions meet established agendas, I'd bet on serial victories: first for the immoveables, then for the unopposibles.
