Dawn of a Digital Rights War?

Last night, I rambled for a bit about digital rights management. It ended up turning into a pretty good conversation about the state of DRM. We discussed the possibilities and how long one could avoid being involved. We concluded that it seemed the issue was getting closer to surfacing with the mass public.

But perhaps war has already been declared?

"It's time for lawmakers, trade groups, and public-interest organizations to get down to the hard work of hammering out standards for what businesses can and can't do to customers' computers. Such an effort will need to be international, because the Net knows no bounds. It will need to come up with simple, understandable language for end-user licensing agreements. It will need to draw red lines around unacceptably invasive hacks and map gray areas between spying and market research." - Bruce Sterling, Wired.

However, I have to wonder if this type of diplomacy will prove effective. (War seems to be a more popular choice for solving the world's problems.) Ultimately we can learn from history. It seems as though during a time of war, increased media attention given to the casualties of war results in louder cries from the public for more peaceful and humanitarian solutions. But then again, this is a war like no other...