FCC To The DRM Rescue

By Joe Haygood | January 6, 2009

While DRM has been around for several years in the PC world, it was not until Spore that the DRM arguement came to a head in popular culture.  Spore was a mainstream title that exposed the good and bad of DRM, and the arguements for and against having it in your game.

The FCC has kind of stayed out of the fray, allowing consumers and business users to try and solve the issue by themselves.  Consumers have taken their arguement to the press, and in the case of Spore, to the courts.  Publishers have put up a wall, telling the public that they need to protect their investment.

Now, the FCC is slowly starting to get into the fight, by holding a town hall meeting that will go over the issue of DRM.  There will be a segment that looks at current forms of DRM and how they are implemented, a panel that discusses the benefits and perils of DRM, a review of the industry best practices and finally, a look at whether the government needs to look at getting involved, on the behalf of the consumer.

That last agenda item is a huge, because for the first time, we are seeing the government taking a strong look at the game industry and whether the inclusion of DRM, in its current form, helps or harms consumers.  I hope that Valve and Stardock send representatives to this Town Hall, because they should be looked at as the model of how DRM can be done, without being overly invasive.  Gamers should also not expect too much out of this meeting right away, because it is just a town hall meeting.  No legislation will come out of it, but it is a start, and it is nice to see that the voice of the consumer can get people in high places to notice.