If you thought opening up your XBox or PS2 to solder in a mod chip was fun, the future is brite. The brave new world of Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) will soon have all of us, opening up our TVs, computers, and monitors in various risky maneuvers, and I cant wait. Imagine a world in which it is a felony for any of us to watch a movie at home, or listen to music… And it’s not just that, imagine a world where one or two company’s hold a monopoly on computer operating systems, which will be in everything. An operating system that only runs digitally signed code, where it is mathematically impossible to run software that they don’t want you to, using a computer you own. And best of all it eliminates competition, because companies will soon be able to choose who can and cannot compete with them, just keep enough staggering ball twisters around to make it look like there are other players in the industry, other player that at a drop of a hat could have their license to run code revoked, or made prohibitively expensive.

Initiatives by Microsoft, Apple and Intel and lots of other hardware and content companies, are starting to put hardware level DRM in place, something that would be mathematically impossible to get around. Not only that but only by licensing the technology would you be able to run it on your computer. And as soon as the enforcement mechanism is in place it will be used for a whole lot more them just keeping you from downloading music from your friends computer. Companies don’t license technology to their competitors unless they know it gives them the upper hand, and the power plays that will soon be possible could stifle technological innovation for ever. Software is developed by people, but people wont be able to run the software they write, only companies with lots of money will have that privilege… You see it’s just too risky to let people run their own software, they may find a way not to pay. Very soon there will come a day when I won’t be able to watch a movie or listen to a CD on my computer, either because it is too old, or is running software that they don’t want me to (Linux, or anything else that they don’t own or make money on). The only power consumers have it to not let it happen, don’t buy it. On Linux, because of DRM, I can’t legally:

• Buy songs off of iTunes, Napster or any of those other DRM pedaling services. Even though the DRM they use is broken, I still have to commit a felony every time I upgrade my music player or download from their service.
• Play DVD’s: sure I have a DVD player in my computer but it only works because some guy broke the law, and thousands of other people are willing to break the law to distribute the code to me.
• Watch stupid movie trailers on the Internet… Because for some reason they are always in Quicktime or Windows Media, Apple and Microsoft are never going to come out with Linux versions of their software… So I break the law and violate the license, what else am I supposed to do.

Soon… this wont just be my problem it will be yours as well… Soon you will be brushing mounds of solder off your new $2000 TV, and you will remember this warning.