Why the BBC Does Not Get It

I came across this gem from the BBC Internet blog:

Even the beleaguered iPlayer – forget the issues, who can quibble that in making virtually all main programming available on demand, within a seven day window, over IP, for free is anything other than a breakthrough for the public good?

Me - I can "quibble". The point is that the programming is *not* made available for free: it is imprisoned in Windows DRM. Which means that it is a vector for that DRM: it spreads both lack of freedom and Windows itself by forcing people to install that system.

It is not "a breakthrough for the public good", even if the programming on its own would be: the long-term price paid in terms of establishing Windows-only DRM as the obligatory rights manager for on demand multimedia more than outweighs the short-term benefits of some content, however well made that may be. "Forget the issues" is not an option if we wish to safeguard our future freedom. This is what the BBC seems unable to grasp.