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> A system with more plusses than minuses, but no security,
> gets taken advantage of.
DRM does not give you that security.
> (Try having absolutely no security in a supermarket, and see
> how much product you'll lose.)
In supermarket, your security will need to have enough success rate to make it likely that a thief gets caught. With say, 50% catch rate, it would be too risky for the thief. In case of DRM-ed digital object, you would need to have 100% success rate at preventing DRM removal by someone with intent to distribute that object. Historically, DRM has not been proven to be that reliable. Once the DRM gets removed and the object becomes available on darknet, then you are in a worse state than without DRM in the first place.
I think it is pretty safe to assume that DRM or no DRM, your object gets uploaded/seeded somewhere anyway.
Now there are two supermarkets. Legal supermarket and the darknet. Which one will the customers go for? The one that is cheaper (darknet) or the one that is closer (stuff on darknet is harder to find)? Now, if your object is difficult or impossible to find on the legal supermarket or it has restrictions on it - then there is no contest. If it is easier to find a legal copy, then it becomes a battle between greed and convenience + conscience.
You too can participate in that battle. Greed component you can affect by pricing.
Convenience you can affect in three ways: firstly by having your product available on online store with good reputation, secondly by sparing some effort on supression of your stuff on illegal channels and thirdly by not having restrictions on your product that could backfire on you or the user.
Conscience you can affect by either apparing to have good faith in your customer or appearing to believe that the only thing preventing your customer from becoming a thief is his ignorance.
> It took time to develop that security for those things, but it was done
Various software copy protection schemes have been around since 80s, if not earlier. First door locks, according to wiki, appeared ca 4000 years ago in Egypt. Didn't help much against locals looting the crypts.
> So: Give them an alternative that does not include the words "or I will steal it."
You cannot feasibly make it technically impossible for some bugger to download your stuff. iTunes and Amazon MP3 shop and folks here who read e-books are testament to that it is possible to sell lots of content to people who -could- get their hands on illegal copies but chose otherwise.
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