DRM for batteries

[Jon Callas]

On Jan 3, 2008, at 7:38 PM, Peter Gutmann wrote:

> http://www.intersil.com/cda/deviceinfo/0,1477,ISL6296,0.html
>
> At $1.40 each (at least in sub-1K quantities) you wonder whether  
> it's costing
> them more to add the DRM (spread over all battery sales) than any  
> marginal
> gain in preventing use of third-party batteries by a small subset  
> of users.

Assuming that is your threat model, yes.

If your threat is that you're worried about a cheap battery flaming  
in your brand of phone, that's more of a threat.

People who know how to make batteries have a so-so track record with  
them. There have been many cases of off-brand batteries going into  
overload.

If I were the CSO of a mobile phone company, I think I could  
convincingly argue that this is a public safety issue. Let's face it,  
if a battery takes out someone's leg or downs an airliner, the  
headline will say my company's name, not the people who made the  
battery.

If I really wanted openness, I could come up with an accreditation  
process that allow responsible third parties who followed proper  
quality standards to license the needed hashes.

	Jon

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