Regulation, regulation, regulation

Herewith the response to the e-petition on DRM issues, with apologies for length of post and the distant wails of tortured grammar. Mercifully brief editorial comments are below.
"Digital rights issues have been gaining increasing prominence as innovation accelerates, more and more digital media products and services come onto the market and the consumer wants to get access to digital content over different platforms. Many content providers have been embedding access and management tools to protect their rights and, for example, prevent illegal copying. We believe that they should be able to continue to protect their content in this way. However, DRM does not only act as a policeman through technical protection measures, it also enables content companies to offer the consumer unprecedented choice in terms of how they consume content, and the corresponding price they wish to pay.
It is clear though that the needs and rights of consumers must also be carefully safeguarded. It is reasonable for consumers to be informed what is actually being offered for sale, for example, and how and where the purchaser will be able to use the product, and any restrictions applied. While there is good reason to expect the market to reach a balance as these new markets develop, it is important that consumers' interests are maintained in the meantime.
Apart from the APIG (All Party Internet Group) report on DRM referred to in your petition, Digital Rights issues are an important component in other major HMG review strands on Intellectual Property, New Media and the Creative Economy. In particular, the independent Gowers Review of Intellectual Property commissioned by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, published its report on 6th December 2006 as part of the Chancellor's Pre-Budget Report. Recommendations include introducing a limited private copying exception by 2008 for format shifting for works published after the date that the law comes into effect. There should be no accompanying levies for consumers. Also making it easier for users to file notice of complaints procedures relating to Digital Rights Management tools by providing an accessible web interface on the Patent Office website by 2008 and that DTI should investigate the possibility of providing consumer guidance on DRM systems through a labelling convention without imposing unnecessary regulatory burdens."

Point 1: Every time I read NuLaborSpeak, and particularly the now-debased word "choice", I look round for the soap-box which friends and relations have prudently hidden. You're in luck. I shall go and eat chocolate instead of ranting.
Point 2: The final sentence made me laugh. I'm imagining the labels. "Warning: may contain organised sound" or perhaps the all-purpose "May contain trace of nuts".

It may help to fix one system bug which allows the poor fool^Wbuyer to get all the way through, including payment, before discovering that the downloaded material comes in only one, proprietary, format. Generally, it appears to be taking a firm stance on a wobbly fence.