DRM as a Smart Contract

[Anonymous]

Nick Szabo created the idea of Smart Contracts several years ago.
http://www.best.com/~szabo.  These would be self-enforcing agreements
that were based on technology rather than laws.  It all sounded cool at
the time.

But isn't DRM a form of Smart Contract?  If I need a special viewer to
download some content, and that viewer enforces the terms of the contract
which allows me to do the download, that enforcement happens without
any laws.  It is all handled by the technology.  It's a Smart Contract.

It's interesting how ideas can sound good until you realize that they
won't let you take other people's creative output without their consent.
Maybe it's time for cypherpunks to put principle over greed.