Unpredictable. Unfocused. Just like life.

Bob Zitter, HBO’s Chief Technology Officer, is tired of the term "Digital Rights Management", or DRM. He thinks it needs a new name:

That changed on Tuesday, when HBO’s Chief Technology Officer, Bob Zitter, suggested at an industry conference that DRM needs a name change. Zitter’s suggested name: Digital Consumer Enablement, or DCE.

The irony here is that “rights management” is itself an industry-sponsored euphemism for what would more straightforwardly be called “restrictions”. But somehow the public got the idea that DRM is restrictive, hence the need for a name change.

As in digitally enabling your customers to be screwed when they try to use what they've paid for?

Just suppose for a second that your car stalled everytime you got on the freeway because you car manufacturer decided that you needed a different license for the freeway. How would that work for you?

Tip of the hat to Ed Felten at Freedom to Tinker.