Digital Home Thoughts: Your Movies Are About to go Ultraviolet

"The Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) is moving forward with a brand name and a beta test for its cloud-based "digital locker" system. The name for the technology will be UltraViolet and the beta test will begin this fall, while the specs and licensing details are expected to be ready by the end of 2010."

It seems as if there will be a perpetual effort to implement DRM in almost any content. The video industry has made many attempts at doing this before, but this time, it looks as if a larger group of them have gotten together for something close to a single solution. DRM has never been easy. Before the usual rants going off about how DRM is bad, DRM is there to protect the content creator. Much like copyright, it allows a creator to have some degree of control over what they make and what is done with it. Yes, the movie industry has taken it to the next step as a way of maximizing profit as well. The problem is that it is a balance. How do you prevent your content from being distributed in a fashion you do not want (and presumably, without any profit) while allowing legitimate customers access with a minimum of fuss? Almost everyone I know of wants control over their things. That is why they have a lock on their door. It keeps those they do not want out, but lets them in fairly easily. Previously, this was much easier as the barrier for theft or copying was either high or at least a little inconvenient. As CD burners and computing technology advanced, this barrier got lower and lower. Now it seems all that is left is some sort of software or network based solution. From the sounds of it, this DRM may be a step forward, in that it is, hopefully, a single solution for all movie publishers (almost) but the need for a persistent, or even an intermittent Internet connection sounds like a potential hassle. Depending on the actual implementation, I probably will find myself spending my entertainment dollars elsewhere. What about you?