Look at me, I am such a waste of space that I am not producing anything of value, I merely react to other people's original thoughts with thoughts of my own.  So casey is upset about ever-tighter digital rights management built into Windows, and maybe some day hardware as well.  Let me first share some of my thoughts:

• I think the companies comprising MPAA and the RIAA horribly mistreat the artists without whom they would not exist.  I think these companies do not recognize an artists Moral Right to their work, nor is "Fair Use" in their vocabulary
• I think these companies produce a ton of crappy content and then blame piracy for their downfall rather than ponder the idea that I don't feel like me and the Mrs. going through the tedium of acquiring a baby-sitter and then paying over $20 for two tickets and crappy popcorn just to sit in front of something that is 99.9% likely to suck. (It sure is loud though)

That being said, I see no issue with digital rights management as long as it does not interfere with my fair use of something I paid for. I am a strong believer in Capitalism, and as such I can choose or not choose to engage in any transaction with another party.  If I choose to buy something from someone, I must buy it on the terms they offer.  If I sell something, I sell it on my terms and I expect them to be honored.  I view my HD Cable via a DVI digital connection on my TV, which supports HDCP.  It means I cannot record these shows easily, I have no issue with this.  I entered into this arrangement with Charter cable (who also sucks) knowing this up front.

If the MPAA says I can buy this DVD from them but I am not allowed to copy it, then I have agreed not to copy it.  The fact that Microsoft is going to make it harder to copy it from Windows does not concern me as long as my privacy is not comprimised.  I do not have a "right" to use something outside of the terms of the seller, regardless of how ridiculous their copyright law is or how much Pearl Harbor or Alexandar: Director's Cut sucked to begin with.

If you don't like these terms, do not buy it.  If Hollywood shoots themselves in the foot because their new copy protection is not viewable on my mom's TV then its their loss when they miss out on the sale of millions of copies of "The Mummy Returns" to people like her.  If there is some ridiculous backlash against the public (Sueing college kids for trading Mp3s come to mind) then we brought that on ourselves.  What's fair likely lies some place in the middle.

What do you think?  How can we best treat the studios who spend millions of dollars making crap like <<Insert Julia Roberts film title here>>, hardware and software manufactures, and consumers fairly?