Back in January Microsoft encrypted all my hard drives without saying anything. I was playing around with a dual boot yesterday and somehow aggravated Secureboot. So my C: panicked and required a 40 character key to unlock.
Your key is backed up to the Microsoft account associated with your install. Which is considerate to the hackers. (and saved me from a re-install) But if you've got an unactivated copy, local account, or don't know your M$ account credentials, your boned.
Control Panel > System Security > Bitlocker Encryption.
BTW, I was aware that M$ was doing this and even made fun of the effected users. Karma.
But it's not condescending? You are mistaken. The publicised studio on steam, the "developer" is a studio. They are owned by a company that takes all the money. The publisher is sometimes the in house or out sourced company that markets the game. This is also owned by a company. The owners, often multi national giant corporations, lobby for drm and none of the terms you use are applicable for these. They are, in games and all media called "investors" of different types. They have separated it like this because they want all the money and can hire the talent. At no point do any creative worker engage in lobbying for drm, because it is not in their interests and I suspect wouldn't be since it requires a full on sociopath to do so.