[TankGirl]

The game is getting tougher...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/34804.html

HP declares war on sharing culture

HP this week took the unusual move of using a consumer electronics conference as the venue for an unprecedented attack on consumers and their ability to enjoy American technology and culture.

HP's CEO Carly Fiorina filled her keynote speech at CES with media piracy rhetoric, saying that consumers are undermining the economy and the morals of this nation by exchanging music. With this platform established, Fiorina went on to say HP will be the media industry's first rate lackey and do all it can to equip files with DRM (digital rights management) controls. The move by a technology company like HP to so wholly support a dying, old world empire shows how fragile the idea of an open PC has become.

"Just because we can steal music doesn't mean we should," Fiorina said. "It is illegal. It is wrong, and there are things we can do as a technology company to help.

"Stating this year, we'll strive to build every one of our consumer devices to respect digital rights."

Fiorina went on to say the company is working to have the industry's best DRM technology whether developed in-house or purchased through partners. HP has a rich heritage of research and product development into portable computer devices - CoolTown, and from Digital, the StrongARM processor and iPaq. So it ignored it all, and chose to rebadge Apple's iPod.

It's not unreasonable for companies in all relevant industries to try and make sure artists are rewarded for their creative efforts. But as the playing field now stands with current DRM technology, consumers are giving up freedoms as to how they can play and share their content. And now technology leaders such as HP are going out of their way to "help" the media industry instead of helping their own customers.

Also here:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...pcworld/114213