I’m not claiming there are no downsides to DRM — the fact that it makes it hard or impossible to copy things one has legitimately purchased is clearly a negativ

I’m not claiming there are no downsides to DRM — the fact that it makes it hard or impossible to copy things one has legitimately purchased is clearly a negative. However, I think making piracy more difficult is valuable and more socially important than the downsides. In an ideal world we would subsidize content consumption for those who can’t afford it (we already do this via public libraries, and public funding of content creation in many countries, but we should do more) and also more strictly enforce laws against piracy by shutting down torrent trackers. Then we wouldn’t need DRM. But until this pipe dream comes true, I think DRM is valuable.