The DRM (digital rights management) technology to be included in Microsoft’s Windows Vista is set to give Hollywood movie studios unprecedented level of control over consumers’ PCs, according to a Microsoft white paper.

According to the white paper, Hollywood movie studios will have veto power over certain parts of Windows Vista, including aspects of driver design and cryptography, in Windows’ Protected Media Path. Consider:

Other companies are free to invent their own [encryption for video output] … but security considerations mean that there is a high bar to meet before a new cipher can be approved for use….

The evidence must be presented to Hollywood and other content owners, and they must agree that it provides the required level of security. Written proof from at least three of the major Hollywood studios is required. — Microsoft (Microsoft Word)

The upshot of this is that not only will the movie studios have unprecedented control over your computer’s hardware and software, but other operating systems such as Mac OS and Linux could be locked out from playing legally purchased DVDs, for instance.

The details can be found over at Freedom to Tinker, and more background information is availble from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Hollywood has gone much too far. As copyright holders they certainly have the right to restrict distribution of their works, but they do not have the right to dictate how we, the people who purchase and enjoy those works, view them. Imagine a major book publisher requiring you to read their books using only approved light bulbs and approved light fixtures. This is exactly what’s going on, and it needs to be stopped.

Find out more about Microsoft’s Next-Generation Secure Computing Base, of which the Protected Media Path is a part.