Simon's reporting of the events this week are most helpful, because it sets out that the current consumer DRM argument is about a lot more than just the desire to exert 'traditional' copyright rights in the electronic world. 

But are consumers and industry both prepared for a two-way street here, or is everyone busy digging trenches so they can repeat the glories of the First World War?

Consumers are wrong to think that once they have bought something they have free and unfettered rights to copy it as much as they like and give those copies away to anyone and everyone.  Try doing that with an automobile or a piano and see just how far you get.  It isn’t an argument about something being easy to copy giving you a right to copy it.  The principle doesn’t change.

Suppliers are wrong to think that just because they sell something that also gives them absolute rights to monitor its use, where it goes, what other things the purchaser does.  Those rights never existed before, and they don’t exist today.  Try saying that a gun supplier has the right to monitor all the activities of all the people that buy his products and see where that will get you.

And maybe that’s the real problem.  People think that because they can do something that gives them the right to do it.  Probably the commonest misconception today is that because a car driver has a driving license that gives them the right to drive anywhere and everywhere they want.  And it doesn’t.  A license is an approval by the state that can be withdrawn at any time.  Every country has regulations about driving, and about how you will forfeit your license if you do not behave correctly.  The police always have the power to tell you where you may not drive, and don’t think about arguing with them, it can be painful.   You can drink alcohol, and you can drive a car, but combining them is definitely a non-starter.

So maybe if both sides can back off a bit and create some wiggle room then we can get to a sensible approach to DRM controls that are actually about enforcing rights and not about monitoring people and use, and people can accept that copyright owners should get paid for their work.

You can complain as much as you want about the price of records, but if people didn’t buy them the price would come down.  The more desirable a thing is the bigger the price it commands.  See designer jeans – but don’t go copying them.