Via Boing Boing comes an article from the Sydney Morning Herald (registration required) that describes a way in which Microsoft is going to shove DRM down your throat, and you'll like it! Apparently, Windows Vista will intentionally make protected content fuzzier than it ought to be unless the monitor is equipped with High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP):

Stephen Speicher, who writes a weekly column for the tech blog engadget, said: "If you're one of those rare people whose display is equipped with HDCP, you're fine. However, in the world of computers, such users are few and far between."

The technology is known as PVP-OPM, or Protected Video Path - Output Protection Management.

Speicher said while HDCP had become a de facto standard for display copy-protection in televisions, its penetration in the computer display market was very low.

"Whether you're plunking down money for one of the new ultra-fast LCD displays with 4ms response times or you're becoming the envy of the neighbourhood with Dell's UltraSharp 2405FPW widescreen display, you're buying a monitor that won't play nice with premium content in Longhorn (the code name for Windows Vista)," he said.

So, Microsoft is going to lock down content -- or at least make it a little more annoying to view -- unless you cough up for a new monitor that ensures that you won't steal protected content. Isn't this going a little overboard? Again, who is Microsoft kidding? Hardcore h4xx0rz that want to pirate content will pirate content, and if Microsoft throws a hurdle in their way, they'll find a way to jump over it. It certainly happened with the Genuine Advantage program, which was cracked in 24 hours.

The Library of the Future (brought to you by the MPAA)

Imagine the DRMed library of the future, every music, film, and software company's wet dream: You go into the library, but once you step into the library, a burly man follows you around and looks over your shoulder while you're reading, just to make sure that you're not taking notes about what's in the book, or if you are, that you're only taking one note every twenty-four minutes, and no more than seven notes per individual book. And no memorizing anything, or else the burly man will punch you in the head until you forget what you saw in that book, or that film, or heard in that audio recording. You may have paid $27.50 per month for a membership to the library, but you're certainly not going to do anything with those books that the publishers don't want you to do.

Oh, and to watch any films produced by Sony, you need to pay $8 extra for special glasses that allow you to view the film; without them, the picture looks garbled. And Sony's special glasses won't work for Warner Bros. films, so if you want to view those, you'll need to pay $8 more for Warner Bros. glasses.

Did I mention that you'll be naked? Because if you aren't, there's the possibility that you could steal some of the stuff from this library. And yes, there's a rectal check on the way out. But, hey, it's worth all of this to get your cultural content, right? Well, yes. Because this library is the only place that contains any cultural content anymore. It's the law. Written by Rick Santorum and co-sponsored by Orrin Hatch, the law was re-written so that the only place that any art or media could be put on display was this library, which is owned and operated by a consortium that includes the MPAA and the RIAA. No books, films, or audio recordings are allowed outside of this library. Why? Because we have to protect the artists. If you were allowed to wander around town with a book, then you could give it to someone else. And does Bill O'Reilly get any benefit from you re-selling that copy of The No Spin Zone? Heck, no. So why should he even work at all? It just makes good business sense: everything should be paid for. No public domain, no fair use. That only encourages infringement. And only terrorists, commies, and homogays enjoy infringement.

And sodomy. Delicious sodomy.