Ernest Miller's post on Copyfight has initiated some interesting discussion on why use DRM if it doesn't work to stop piracy.

I don't want to disagree with the post and the comments, but I think that they ignore some important psychological benefits of using DRM.

• Like the old saying goes, locks keep honest people honest.
• The content industries have to me seemed panicky over the issue of protection. Enabling even easily crackable DRM on their content probably gives them some feeling of security.
• But most of all, ubiquitous use of DRM creates a cultural climate in which, in the long run, most of society will begin to accept the rights of content creators to lock up their property. DRM creates digital boundaries which help to solidify the boundary function of authorship as explained by Foucault. And DRM doesn't have to work well to do this; it acheives this by acting symbolically.