OK, the car was not the best example as I told. But going along with it:
What if you change the oil pump and you discover you cannot ride your car until you phone Ford to get a new activation code (of course that -10 celsius degress morning you don't have an operating Internet connenction)?
What if the car suddenly stops working in the middle of the road and you need another 30 minute call to get another activation-whatever-code? Don't we have enough with engine failures?
What if you don't have a choice, if all car manufacturers adopt this schema, and the government wash it's hands? And don't tell me I could buy a Yugo, please.

The DRM thing is not being ruled by the free market workings. If all digital content goes DRM you have no choice.

I'm not praying aginst DRM, I'm praying against DRM implementations, which in most of the cases do not work in practice.

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>Well, yes, I can, actually. If a manufacturer had an awesome car that I was interested in and it was made clear to me that I can only drive the car in certain places, then I would find that an acceptable setup. If the car manufacturer made it clear that that's what the deal is, then I have no problem with that. After all, why wouldn't they be able to define what and how they want to sell something? It is completely within their right to do so.
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>Would I buy that car? No, probably not. And a lot of people would probably give the same answer. And if there aren't too many people buying a car with that sort of rules, then the manufacturer would change. That's the beauty of the free market.
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>Of course, there are also huge advantages if a manufacturer were actually able to apply these sorts of rules. For instance, I might be able to define that only I, my wife, and a few of my friends can drive the car. For everyone else, the car simply would not start. Heck, I wouldn't even need a key anymore! And maybe I do want to define that the car only drives at 10 miles an hour when my kids (if I had any :-) ) decided to drive outside the city limits.
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>In short: With this sort of technology, there is huge potential for both good and bad things to happen. And I simply believe that the market will reject the bad aspects. It will work itself out.
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>BTW: I have never owned a car where one could do a lot of repairs beyond a few very simple things. That's just what modern cars are like, it seems...
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>Markus