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In what can only be considered a staggering defeat for the wretched media virus known as DRM, the code necessary to decrypt every HD-DVD currently on the market has blown up all over the internet.
Posts containing the code were censored by digg.com and removed from their pages in compliance with DMCA requests, but righteous nerd outrage broke out and overwhelmed digg.com with posts about the code faster than the employees and moderators could take them down. In the end, the people won out and the founder of digg has gone on record as saying that they "... won’t delete stories or comments... and will deal with whatever the consequences might be."
Which is pretty ballsy considering they could get sued into nonexistence.
Whatever the fate of digg.com, the game is over for the code and (for now) HD-DVD encryption. The purveyors of software designed to lock legitimate users out of their own purchased content have heard the market speak: DRM sucks ass and nobody wants it.
As of 1:01am May 3rd, 2007, there were about 359,000 pages with the character string on the internet, according to google.
And now, 359,001! Ding!
If you're still confused about DRM, here is my highly condensed rant on the subject:
DRM is the movies / music version of "copy protection."
Copy protection has been around as long as software, probably longer. It has never worked. Ever. There is not one single viable example of copy protection that has not been hacked, tricked, duped, or destroyed.
The HD-DVD code is the latest in a staggeringly long list of examples of cracked n' hacked copy protection. How long, you ask? Try nearly every piece of software, both games and applications, ever sold. Yeah, that long.
Copy protection & DRM does not work, it has never worked and it never will work because ten guys in a room getting paid 9-5 to protect something for their job will always lose to millions of nerds around the world working for free around the clock to crack it for fun.
There are two lessons here. Both are for businesses who deal in software and media.
1) Every single dollar or man-minute spent on copy protection, DRM, or whatever you want to call it is wasted time and money. Take whatever you were going to spend on copy protection and make your product better instead.
2) Users hate copy protection. Since it doesn't do what it is intended to do, protect your whatever from being illegally copied, all it does is hurt the legitimate users. Illegal copies will be made no matter what and any arbitrary restrictions or locks you put on your product only make it harder and less fun for your paying users to use. Unless, of course, they go on the internet and get a crack for it. In other words, as long as DRM and copy protection exists, your company's worst enemy - the pirates - are providing a better product for less money - free.
I have no idea why companies continue to persue DRM and copy protection. It is wasted money and it angers and alienates your users. In all practical applications, there is no good reason to have it, and as a result it makes zero business sense.
I talked with my friend Chaniga about it the other day, and she said there must be a financial reason for it otherwise companies wouldn't do it.
My best guess is that the businesspeople who advocate for DRM's inclusion with their whatever is that they are excellent business people who also know very little about computers and technology and, wisely, want to protect their investment and livelihood.
Except that they just end up wasting money and annoying their legitimate customers.
Okay. I know that was incredibly didactic but it also happens to be true.
And that will be my last post on DRM this quarter. Thanks for listening.
DRM is there because people in power want to stay in power, and they will do what they have to do defend the status quo... but this whole fiasco is a great example that the old models don't work in the new world, and people need to get past the type of control they used to have.
In ten years, the MPAA and RIAA will still exist, but in much different forms. Less power, less control. This is a GOOD thing, and the first step towards having a more free and open culture, since we are not relying on just a few companies for our entertainment.
and 737,000 on Google by 3am, this meme is blowing up like a red tide.