IBM's Answer To Palladium

from the just-gets-worse dept

Having just complained about how digital rights management is not the answer, I come across this following story about how IBM is about to launch a big digital rights management push. Called "extensible Content Protection" (xCP), it sounds like it's IBM's answer to Microsoft's "Trusted Computing", er... Palladium, um... I mean, "Next-Generation Secure Computing Base". The idea is that it would let you access content on your home network, but if you dared to let it escape into the wild all hell would break loose (or, at least, the content would no longer work). They say they'll embed the software everywhere and seem to think that people will want to buy things that make their content less valuable. They also mention, in passing, that this DRM solution will let content owners "track" the usage of the content. Great. So, IBM is building a giant system to lessen the value of our computers while also adding in a giant spyware system. Sign me up! Why is everyone so focused on locking up content rather than taking advantage of the very nature of digital goods and digital distribution? Once again, this is a solution that will not stop real "piracy" - but will make ordinary users' lives more difficult.