---
title: Why DRM is like Communism
date: 2007-01-05T11:49:43Z
modified: 2007-01-05T11:49:43Z
permalink: "https://redmonk.com/jgovernor/why-drm-is-like-communism/"
type: post
status: publish
excerpt: ""
wpid: 832
categories:
  - Uncategorized
timestamp: 2007-01-05T11:49:43Z
tags:
  - Uncategorized
---

![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/73/Stalin3.jpg/160px-Stalin3.jpg)

I don’t agree with everything at the [Technology Liberation Front](http://www.techliberation.com/) but its usually thought-provoking, and another good example comes in this piece [DRM as Central Planning](http://www.techliberation.com/archives/041620.php). An interesting idea- that the kind of top down command and control architectures Media and Technology companies are building with their elaborate DRM Alhambras – (head nod to Adam Bosworth, we have DRM Astronauts, not just Architecture Astronauts).

What are the implications for the enterprise? If you think you can succesfully run your business as a top down fiefdom, a command and control structure, then by all means encumber all your documents and files with DRM. But if you want to enable your employees to innovate then a little more freedom might not be such a bad thing. That’s the thing with command and control – its inefficient and so bound to fail in the long run.