CRM - Car Rights Management

This week the debates on DRMs continued. I really like the recent piece by Wired explaining by example what DRM brings to the table. Looks like we are not happy with the restrictions on the use of content we purchase. Once we buy a song or a book (in electronic form), we expect to "own it" rather than just "having a right to use it". Think about cars. You buy a car and you do not expect anybody restricting you what to do with it. When I think about cars recently, I come to the conclusion the idea of selling cars is still from the old ages of vinyl records and paperback books. There is a huge potential for the entire car industry, once it moves from the current "buy to own it" model to the modern DRM-like "buy to have a right to use it" model. And actually these days buying a car could actually resemble buying a license.

I think a standard licence for a car "personal edition" should cover driving one person within the city limits, not exceeding 55mph (90km/h), not more than five days a week. Then you would have a "business edition" extending the personal by allowing different people sit at the wheel. The "carrier edition" would even let you drive around the country. On the other hand there would be a "sport edition" to let you accelerate to 110mph (180km/h) or may be more. And for the most demanding the "ultimate edition" to give you the freedom you have today, but probably for twice the today's price. All this for one year only. On the 366th day the ignition simply would not start, unless you have extended your licence. Of course there would be a plethora of individual extensions. Even pay-per-incident multipacks (like speed up to 150mph five pack). Or an additional driver extension pack. I am sure this model will drive the entire stagnating automotive industry to the new highs, why only software companies should benefit from this model?

Then of course we would have the entire new branch of the industry (probably Microsoft + the leading car makers) releasing better and better systems designed to force us to "comply" with the license. Think of the number of GPS chips and telemetry transmitters alone sold just to control the compliance. Even the security chips (TPMs) would rise rom the PC motherboards and walk over to find their place in the car DRM systems (or CRMs). And eBay would be filled by offers to "mod" your car to let your wife drive your car without paying an extra licence (or a drunk-driven-home five pack). Just look how many new jobs we can create with this simple idea...

What really worries me, this all idea can really one day be implemented...