DRM is an inherently weak system because as long as you have root on your device, you can break it. Perhaps it will take some serious reverse engineering effort, but it's always going to be breakable, because in order for you to consume the content in the fist place, your device needs to decrypt it.
(Of course, that's the point the EFF is making here, that that unbreakable DRM requires compromising our ability to have root access to our own devices.)
So yeah, I agree with you. But given the assumption that DRM works (it doesn't), there's no reason why the DRM could not enforce public domain release protocol in the same way it enforces copyright requirements. Just as iTunes lets you "rent" a movie for a day, it could let you "rent" a copyrighted work until it enters public domain.