Hacking Digital Rights Management
Ars technica has posted a great in-depth article called “Hacking Digital Rights Management”; it provides both an historical overview of DCM and some predictions about the future.
Like a creeping fog, DRM smothers more and more media in its clammy embrace, but the sun still shines down on isolated patches of the landscape. This isn’t always due to the decisions of corporate executives; often it’s the work of hackers who devote considerable skill to cracking the digital locks that guard everything from DVDs to e-books. Their reasons are complicated and range from the philosophical to the criminal, but their goals are the same: no more DRM.
We’re going to revisit the history of the most famous DRM cracks. While the stories themselves are fascinating, one of the merits of such an exercise is to use the lessons of the past to consider the challenges of the future. Along the way, we’ll address the following important questions:
Will DRM someday be unbreakable? Do content companies care if it is?
Who or what is a “Beale Screamer”?
What does the history of DRM mean for new technologies such as Blu-ray discs and HDCP links?
Can a marker violate the DMCA?
What’s more important: technology, Congress, or the market?
Will a Stalin statue make a brief cameo appearance in the conclusion of this article?
(...)
Read the whole thing at Ars Technica. Well worth your time!