We've got some bad news for the craftiest of Android users: If you're device is rooted, you will no longer be able to rent movies from the Android Market, according to a report from Wired.com.
When accessed by a phone with a rooted Android operating system, Android Market's movie rental service will issue a "failure to fetch license" message to users.
A "rooted" Android phone is similar to a jailbroken iPhone. Once rooted, the user has the ability to customize the operating system anyway he or she pleases. That means deleting pre-installed software, changing the look of the OS, and running unofficial programs.
For an operating system that leverages itself on the pretense that it's more open than the competition, this may seem to be a curios move. However, it's mostly due to DRM (Digital Rights Management) concerns. Gartner analyst Philip Redman told Wired that if a device is rooted, it "can probably work around the DRM system that they have set up."
While the renting of movies may not be high on the list of most user's minds, this crackdown may be a sign of things to come as Google is looking to take back control of its mobile OS.
[via Wired]
