Why ebook DRM will die, and why this will make no difference to Amazon and Apple

The U.S. Department of Justice’s decision to investigate six companies (five publishers and Apple) over alleged collusion in e-book prices and sales models has sparked off an interesting side-debate on the subject of� DRM and hardware lock-in. Regular readers will know that I’m no fan of DRM. That’s not because I want to enthusiastically pirate every bit of content in sight, or because I want to encourage others to do the same. No, it’s because the whole premise of DRM is based on a lie. DRM is sold to us as a mechanism for controlling piracy. Without DRM, the