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We’ve all heard of Spore, the game where you evolve creatures from the puddle of muck stage through to galactic conquest. It’s a very, very neat game! Unfortunately, it’s not a game worth buying, and the reason for this is (drum roll, please) DRM! I needn’t cover the details of the system that ruins the game, as various reviewers on Amazon.com do a great job themselves. Of the approximately eleven hundred reviews currently available, over half are one-star (the lowest rating you can give), and just about every. last. one. goes on about the DRM.

Via Slashdot, news comes about an HBO exec saying that DRM needs a new name. Not only that, but the name that CTO Bob Zitter suggests is laughably Orwellian – "Digital Consumer Enablement". As DRM is anything but empowering, it's obvious that this is one of those many cases where someone tries to cheat others by playing some mind games. Like a drug dealer who makes up a new name for an old substance, it's nothing more than a ruse.

I'd suggest reading the comments on the Slashdot article – the folks there do a much better job of showing up this bald-faced lie than I ever could.