Foot shooting
According to a story on Ars Technica, HBO wants to copy-protect its programming such that it couldn’t be DVRed. This is clearly and obviously problematic in the sense that it strips from the consumer rights that we’ve basically had forever; but more than that, it’s just stupid. If you tell me that I can’t DVR HBO, I’m not going to go out to iTunes and buy episodes of HBO shows that I missed — I’m going to drop my HBO subscription. I watch it rarely enough as it is, and if I couldn’t DVR it, I doubt I’d’ve seen anything on HBO at all.
Ultimately, this is the bargain I’m willing to make with content owners about DRM: You can go ahead and put as much DRM into your content as you want, but as soon as it stops me from using it in the ways that make it useful to me, I quit paying for it. If it comes to the worst, I’m ready for the DRM-pocalypse: I’ve got hundreds of unread books sitting on my shelf, which will serve nicely as emergency supplies in case of the collapse of the global entertainment industry.