melroy88
Melroy Lopes
Should media companies and software producers be allowed to use Digital Rights Management technologies in order to protect their media from illegal use, duplication and reproduction?
Context
Digital Rights Management (DRM) technologies are basically those technologies used to prevent the unauthorized copying of digital media (mainly music, films and software). The term also covers technologies which are used to enforce limited access policies on digital media (such as the ‘Windows Genuine Advantage’ scheme). DVD content has been encoded in a scrambled form since 1996, music CDs had various forms of copy protection between 2002 and 2007, and most non-open-source software includes copy protection. Recent examples of DRM include the Apple iTunes store which restricts music sharing, Microsoft’s Zune Player which only allows a certain track to be streamed a limited number of times, and Windows XP and Vista’s online verification requirements. Part of the debate over the BluRay .vs. HD DVD format discussion also concerns DRM technologies.
The relevant legislation in both the US and EU stems from a push to enforce the provisions of the 1996 World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Copyright Treaty. Both the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (1998) and the EU Copyright directive (2001) protect DRM technologies in addition to making simple piracy illegal by prohibiting technologies which strip DRM systems from media and by prohibiting reverse engineering of DRM technologies. The core of this debate is not over whether media should be open-source of not but rather whether DRM is the best and fairest way to prevent piracy. The burden of the proposition is likely to involve proving that DRM is bad for one or all of a) consumers, b) artists and c) the viability of the media industry. The opposition typically aim to show that DRM is a necessary and legitimate means of combating piracy, as well as of balancing competing interests.
Context
Digital Rights Management (DRM) technologies are basically those technologies used to prevent the unauthorized copying of digital media (mainly music, films and software). The term also covers technologies which are used to enforce limited access policies on digital media (such as the ‘Windows Genuine Advantage’ scheme). DVD content has been encoded in a scrambled form since 1996, music CDs had various forms of copy protection between 2002 and 2007, and most non-open-source software includes copy protection. Recent examples of DRM include the Apple iTunes store which restricts music sharing, Microsoft’s Zune Player which only allows a certain track to be streamed a limited number of times, and Windows XP and Vista’s online verification requirements. Part of the debate over the BluRay .vs. HD DVD format discussion also concerns DRM technologies.
The relevant legislation in both the US and EU stems from a push to enforce the provisions of the 1996 World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Copyright Treaty. Both the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (1998) and the EU Copyright directive (2001) protect DRM technologies in addition to making simple piracy illegal by prohibiting technologies which strip DRM systems from media and by prohibiting reverse engineering of DRM technologies. The core of this debate is not over whether media should be open-source of not but rather whether DRM is the best and fairest way to prevent piracy. The burden of the proposition is likely to involve proving that DRM is bad for one or all of a) consumers, b) artists and c) the viability of the media industry. The opposition typically aim to show that DRM is a necessary and legitimate means of combating piracy, as well as of balancing competing interests.