Bob Zitter, HBO’s Chief Technology Officer, wants to rename DRM, “DCE” or “Digital Consumer Enablement” in order to trick consumers into thinking it’s not quite as nasty.

At National Cable & Telecommunications Association show in Las Vegas, Zitter said:

Digital Consumer Enablement, would more accurately describe technology that allows consumers “to use content in ways they haven’t before,” such as enjoying TV shows and movies on portable video players like iPods. “I don’t want to use the term DRM any longer,” said Zitter, who added that content-protection technology could enable various new applications for cable operators.

Theoretically, says Zitter, those analog outputs could be disabled, forcing consumers to use a secure digital connection to watch HD content. But current FCC rules don’t give HBO or cable operators that power, in order to protect consumers who bought early HDTV sets that don’t support digital copy protection. “They say we can’t turn off the analog output,” Zitter notes.

Consumers don’t want road blocks thrown up in front of them when they want to watch or listen to content they purchased. No matter what the media companies call it, copy protection will always suck and ironically won’t work. All copy protection does well, is teach consumers to download content illegally with the copy protection removed.

[HBO Exec: Don’t Call It DRM]

Tags: drm, intellectual property, copyright