[jwandborg]

Cell pagers are also deemed secure in some places, despite being broadcast over a wide area.

Both of the technologies can be seen as "secured" by laws outlawing listening to the information sent in cleartext.

I wouldn't call it "security theatre", i would call it "security through legislation" or something along those lines.

I thought "security theatre" was a routine that promised, but did not provide, additional security, and while there is no technical security, there technically is some security, in the form of legislation.

[KyeRussell]

Yeah. When nerds talk about DRM I’m reminded of that xkcd with the encrypted payload, and the crowbar. I can’t be bothered finding it.

“Security theatre” is as you’ve said something that people in these circles there around at times when it’s just not accurate.

This is such a weird blindspot for nerds. A cargo-culted relic from a bygone era where digital media consumption was worlds harder than it is now, and the argument against DRM was less wrapped in moral superiority, instead just…much more blatantly being about people wanting to pirate things.

I’ve got no doubt that a highly experienced and motivated hacker could pop any of my stuff in 5 minutes. Doesn’t mean that I’m not putting effort into securing my stuff against the garden-variety script kiddie, even stuff that negatively affects user experience.

An argument that the negative UX imposed by DRM doesn’t justify its benefits (to the content owner / distributer) is at least a little bit interesting. However “it’s annoying to get going on an OS that nobody uses” is a pretty weak argument. As is “it makes it hard to rip content from a streaming service in a way that’s very blatantly NOT in the spirit of the transaction that gave you access to the media in the first place”.