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A Hot topic, with some conflicting Views. Steve Jobs posted a very good article (http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughtsonmusic/ on what he thinks could be done. For those who don't know:
Wikipedia wrote:
Digital Rights Management (DRM) is an umbrella term that refers to any of several technologies used by publishers or copyright owners to control access to and usage of digital data or hardware, and to restrictions associated with a specific instance of a digital work or device. The term is often confused with copy protection and technical protection measures; these two terms refer to technologies that control or restrict the use and access of digital content on electronic devices with such technologies installed, acting as components of a DRM design.
Quote:
Controversies, consequences, and examples
Several DRM schemes have been implemented. Many see them as "abuse" of copyright, while DRM proponents have seen them as a "reasonable balance of consumer concerns and artist rights."
Examples include:
* Inclusion of commercials on the "unskippable track" on DVDs reserved for the copyright notice; * Using the DMCA to restrict access to items that do not qualify for copyright, such as garage door openers and printer ink cartridges; * Adding restrictions on text-to-speech conversion in the EULA of e-books; * BBC IMP trial for downloads of DRM-encrypted audio and video files; uses the Kontiki peer to peer file distribution system. Allows no user control of the background up and downloading, leading to considerable slowing of user PCs and potential exhaustion of allowed data transfers without warning due to the nature of peer to peer type operations, with only the option to shut down the user's computer or disconnect from the Internet. BBC content is time-limited and will only play on the machine to which it was downloaded or an officially authenticated device participating in Microsoft's DRM scheme. * Sky's 'Sky By Broadband' scheme also uses Kontiki with similar results. * Using Copy Control schemes to thwart the existing statutory and common law exceptions to copyright holder control (such as fair use), as for instance in regional coding of media (such as in DVDs); * The possibility of dominant DRM-inclusive recording and playback technology being used uncritically by users unaware of the dangers and consequences thereof, and potentially later locking them out of their own creations, as with SCMS in consumer-grade DAT equipment; * Preventing academic publication and distribution of information relating to flaws in computer security in the absence of the permission of the creators of said technologies; * Silencing individuals who have found serious flaws in software used in electronic voting.[18] * Restriction of medical records and personal financial information using DRM to protect consumer rights. Insurers, lawyers and loan companies have strongly objected to the use of these technologies to prevent patient, hospital and practitioner records being more freely accessible due to copy and forward restriction applied to patient or customer records. * As of 2005, in some American dental schools, students are required to purchase textbooks on DVD. The DVDs are readable only on an authorized computer and only for a limited time, after which the DVD expires and the information in the "DVD book" becomes unreadable. Some of these books are not available on paper at all. * Stopping or making archival of the content, even allowed such as in libraries, hard or impossible to do due to practical and technical reasons - especially when considering that the content should still be accessible even if the publisher disappears (bankruptcies etc). * TiVo 7.2 OS adds content access restrictions, blocks transfers, and auto-deletes some shows * The Sony BMG DRM scandal, which has generated lawsuits and negative publicity for Sony BMG. * Aesthetic objections to onscreen DRM threats interfering with relaxing and watching a movie. * The Swedish Pirate Party wants to outlaw most forms of DRM. * The legal inability to disable DRM restrictions, even if they "threaten critical infrastructure and potentially endanger lives"[19] * Many DRM systems restrict playback to a single device and some providers have not offered to renew this licence when the device is upgraded. * The Playstation 2 version of Ape Escape: Pumped & Primed creates copy-restricted game saves which cannot be transferred between memory cards. This is the first known instance where a publisher has enforced DRM on private data, rather than just data copyrighted by the publisher. * The PlayStation 2 CD-ROM format games contain DRM technology and cannot be copied with normal copying software. However, the DVD-ROM format games don't contain this technology. * The Xbox 360 games has an 'advanced security code' which prevents copying of the games. * The downloaded game content or full arcade games from Xbox 360's Marketplace are unplayable unless connected directly to Microsoft's servers if a user has his/her console replaced. This is in contrast to the content restrictions on the user's original machine where the content is playable offline and by all users. This limitation is a direct result of DRM tying the content not only to the individual user but the first console to download the content. * The Microsoft Zune will apply a 3-day-or-3-play restriction to wirelessly shared songs regardless of potential copyright violations, or more specifically the lack thereof. This is considered violation of Creative Commons licenses by Creative Commons advocates.[20]
A couple of quick thoughts.
1) Several jurisdictions around the world simply do not have the concept of “Fair Use”. For instance in the UK, the copyright notice on CDs forbidding copying means exactly that. By copying for your own personal use you are breaking the terms of the copyright. So unfortunately we have to consider DRM in a global context. Which is particularly troublesome when >500k DNS servers were found world wide with an XCP rootkit infected PC behind them.
2) “we only have to turn our little eyeballs over to iTunes to generate an “Oh, yeah?” Does iTMS make any money directly? Isn’t it rather a loss leader that bolsters the sale of iPods? What is unknown is whether the iPod would have been just as much of a success without Fairplay and iTMS. I rather think it would have been.
3) The most cogent argument I’ve seen against DRM is that it leads to spyware. Give someone the encrypted text, the algorithm and the keys and you can’t control what they do with the plain text. In order to try to control them, you have to install spyware. And since no informed computer user will knowingly install spyware you have to trick them into it. So if it can always be circumvented, DRM will never work to stop counterfeiters. So by adding it, you do nothing to stop genuine piracy, while upsetting and hurting your genuine customers. Does that make any sort of business sense?
4) Why do the tech companies want to be in the content distribution business? The existing content distribution companies are hurting, their business models no longer work, and they are surrounded by a whole range of disruptive technologies that are changing the marketplace irrevocably. So why would any tech company want to get a piece of that failing action? The content owners appear to have this blind faith that DRM will save their existing business model and the tech companies, far from pointing this out, are actively encouraging them. Why? From an anti-DRM stance, every one of them including Apple, and now including Google, are part of the problem.
5) Perhaps what we really need is for DRM to fragment completely into a large number of incompatible “standards” with ever more ridiculous terms and activity. Maybe then the market will decide and back the one player that turns it’s back on DRM. On that basis, Sony is a god send. Go ahead. Screw up. Please.
6) I will not buy any DRMed content unless there is a ridiculously easy work around. So I’ll happily buy a multi-region DVD (available from any store in the UK) and buy region encoded DVDs. But I won’t buy a “not a CD” ever again and I will never buy a crippled, low quality download tune when there’s a dodgy Russian alternative that serves up uncrippled high quality at a 5th of the price.
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