Difference between revisions of "Digital Rights Management"
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'''Digital Rights Management''' (DRM) is the process by which producers of electronic media attempt to prevent [[Digital Piracy]] of their products. Examples of DRM include country coding on DVDs, authentication keys for software or video games, and cellphones being locked to one service provider. | '''Digital Rights Management''' (DRM) is the process by which producers of electronic media attempt to prevent [[Digital Piracy]] of their products. Examples of DRM include country coding on DVDs, authentication keys for software or video games, and cellphones being locked to one service provider. | ||
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==Background== | ==Background== | ||
Revision as of 06:32, 25 November 2011
Digital Rights Management (DRM) is the process by which producers of electronic media attempt to prevent Digital Piracy of their products. Examples of DRM include country coding on DVDs, authentication keys for software or video games, and cellphones being locked to one service provider.
Background
The Digital Millenium Copyright act of 1998 was passed to extend intellectual property law to criminalize circumvention of DRM. [1] DRM has since been included in digital movies, TV, e-books, music, video games and documents in an attempt to maintain controlled, paid access to them. Some such materials have been released DRM-free as a show of support to consumers and solidarity to the opponents of DRM.
Implementation
DRM is most commonly implemented through restrictive licensing agreements, which conrtols access to certain materials, or encryption, which encodes the relavent material and requires a key to decode. [2]
Controversy
Corporations and producers claim that DRM is a useful tool in preventing piracy and ensuring legitimate use of artists' work, comparing it to locking a physical store. They are concerned with maintaining their business and the livelihood of themselves and the artists that they represent. Opponents of DRM claim that it prevents legitimate use of materials, such as making a backup copy of something you purchased or lending a video game to a friend. [3] Some opponents of DRM, most notably the Free Software Foundation, say that the term should be Digital Restrictions Management, as it hinders the rights of consumers. [4]
Ethical implications
The primary ethical question associated with DRM is whether those who circumvent it are defending the rights of end users, or attacking the property of producers.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation asserts that DRM is ethically flawed, as ".. in an effort to attract customers, these music services try to obscure the restrictions they impose on you with clever marketing."[5] It is also argued that laws and restrictions pertaining to DRM are fuzzy. It is often difficult to determine what specific actions, such as ripping a copy of a CD that you own to store on your iPod, are illegal. Such confusions lessen a law-abiding person's ability to detect when they've broken the law, and thus reduce feelings of moral obligation. [6]
References
- ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Millennium_Copyright_Act
- ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management
- ↑ http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2009/08/06/tech-digital-locks-drm-tpm-rights-management-protection-measures-copyright-copy-protection.html
- ↑ http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/drm.html
- ↑ https://www.eff.org/pages/customer-always-wrong-users-guide-drm-online-music
- ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management
