Just when I thought DRM couldn't get stupider, I see this article on the fun and games provided by HDCP (and PVP-OPM in Vista is an instance of this set of crapware):

When Popular Mechanics ran into this problem with their own test units, they put in calls to Sony, Westinghouse, and organizations involved with HDMI licensing. It was soon determined that the problem lay with the television set's "interpretation" of the HDCP standards that are built into the PS3's HDMI output. "The PS3 expects a response that the TV is copy-protection ready in a certain amount of time," Westinghouse monitor product manager Klaus Liborr explained to Popular Mechanics. "And the response wasn't coming quickly enough."

The fix? Upgrade the television set's firmware, a process that requires an in-house visit by a Westinghouse technician. Sets sold in 2007 will apparently come with a feature that will allow the user to upgrade the set's firmware themselves via a USB thumb drive, but one worries about the possibility of bricking a very expensive television set by botching the firmware upgrade. The problem isn't isolated to Westinghouse and the PS3, either. Other people have reported that Sony's first-gen stand-alone Blu-ray players and Sharp televisions suffer from similar problems.

That's just marvelous - the industry that wants us all to upgrade to new HD tech is working with a spec that's about as well defined as early revs of RSS were - which is to say, not well at all. It's one thing for an early adopter of news reader software to get frustrated with feeds that don't come in; it's something else again for the poor guy who just bought a 51" HD TV so he can watch the SuperBowl to get spec failure on Super Sunday. Not that the DRM advocates care; they think we're all criminals anyway.

Over the next few months, I suspect that the proverbial substance is going to hit the fan on this, as average consumers come face to face with stupid DRM that hoses them down. And believe me, handing them thumb drives to insert into their TVs isn't going to make them happier.

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