Faust made his deal with the devil. In return for the devil's service and knowledge, Faust agreed to surrender his body and soul after 24 years' time. By the time Faust realized the folly of his decision, it was too late

Today we are being asked to make a similar bargain-not with the devil, but with the entertainment industry. The promise is a future in which we'll download music and movies over the Internet at rock-bottom prices. It's a future where digital content-books, magazines, newspapers, and databases-will be at our fingertips. It's a future where software and information will be rented, and people will pay only for what they use. And it's a future in which computers will be inherently secure because they will be unable to run viruses and other hostile programs. It is, in short, a high tech paradise.

But it is a trap.

Every bargain has its price. In this case, the price is "digital rights management"-an industrywide project that has been under way for more than a decade and is likely to accelerate within the coming year. Digital rights management starts with a system for marking the "rights" that consumers are granted when they pay for digital media. For instance, an electronic label might say, "This music may be played on your computer but not shared with a friend." Or, "This magazine article may be viewed twice and printed once, and then it must be deleted." But the flip side of the so-called rights is another r-word: restrictions. Rights management systems will make possible software that will watch your computer and make sure you don't break the rules.