[OS:N:] DRM and Open Source

I don't see how DRM - in and of itself - can make open source unusable. I
can see how the market success of a proprietary DRM scheme that only ran on
closed proprietary platforms would harm open source, though, by making
content available only on non-open platforms.

At base, DRM is based on public-key crypto, as I understand it. That being
so, it should be possible to create an open-source implementation of a DRM
system that uses open standards such as X.509 certificates, RSA encryption
(the patents on which have now expired) and others. So I don't see any
technical objections, only philosophical ones.

Now, an open-source DRM system would undoubtedly be unpopular. We'd all
like to see content as widely available as possible, with as few barriers
to access as possible. But experience shows, again and again, that if you
make content available in the form of easily-copyable 1's and 0's, there
are some SOB's who will abuse the privilege. So what's a poor
author/musician/movie-maker to do?

The availability of an open-source system for production of DRM-protected
content might at least enable small operators - the independent record
labels, the unsigned bands, the independent authors, and so on - the
opportunity to sell their own work directly to the consumer at a reasonable
cost, thereby short-circuiting the reviled mega-corporations.

The major stumbling block I see is the use of schemes like Palladium. If
Microsoft was to stitch up a deal with Intel et al to use a
crypto-protected BIOS so that only "licensed" OS's can boot . . . Well, you
can see the problem.

I still haven't had a chance to digest the idea put forward (at least on
this list) of a "muidallap", but I think it has some interesting
possibilities. (Uh-oh - now that I start to think about it, I can see some
concerns, but I won't pollute this thread with them, particularly as I
haven't fully thought them through).

Best,

--- Les Bell, RHCE, CISSP
[http://www.lesbell.com.au]



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