Can Sun, or anyone, make DRM better with open source?

Hey, making DRM Open Source might be a cool idea in concept, but I am just not seeing how this could float. DRM by its very nature means that it is restrictive and annoying. Therefore, I believe that this pretty much counts out OSS as a whole.

Sun Microsystems must have figured digital rights management (DRM) never sounded so good when it recently announced a call for partners in its quest to use open source DRM to “compensate rights holders and stimulate innovation,” but Sun’s open DReaM (DRM everywhere available) Project is as scary as any other content control nightmare to open source and digital freedom proponents.

Sun is again testing its traction in the open source community with its open source DRM project solutions and Open Media Commons, a “cross-industry effort” aimed at an open source, royalty-free DRM solution, wider application of DRM, and a forum for content creators, owners, consumers, and others who can collaborate on technical problems, Sun Labs senior vice president of media and entertainment Glenn Edens said.

To jump-start the effort, Sun is providing the “virtual meeting place” for all those contributing to the effort, and sharing its internal Sun Labs, CDDL-licensed DReaM Project with the community, Edens said. Describing the Open Media Commons as “an open source community project to develop royalty-free codecs and DRM solutions,” Edens indicated source code will be made available to others in the community under specific use and license terms, and there will be a well-defined process for anyone to join and participate in developing the specifications, as well as publishing and revising those specs. [Read the rest]