Locking down open computing (BBC) {digital rights "management"}

[eppur_se_muova]

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DTrace is available under an open source license, and when Apple announced that it would be available on Leopard, the new version of Mac OS X, every serious Mac OS programmer looked forward to having a new, powerful tool to work with.

Unfortunately early experiments with the Apple version of DTrace identified some unusual behaviour.

Cable ties

Adam Leventhal, one of its original developers, found that he could not see any information about iTunes, apparently because Apple had modified his tool to ignore some of its own programs.
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Apple has not made any comment on his findings, but the general consensus is that iTunes is being shielded to protect details about how it implements FairPlay, the digital rights management system that Apple uses to limit the uses of music and video files downloaded from their online store.

And Apple is probably doing this because it has been told to by the content industries, the companies that package and sell the products of other people's creativity.
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7212803.stm