How to Explain DRM to Your Dad
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Several DRM-related scenarios help you explain the problem with digital rights management to people who don't see what's wrong with it. In Listening Post.
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Even as the Big Four push to remove antipiracy software from digital downloads, larger issues remain. Don't expect a DRM-free world anytime soon.
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Amazon: "Many of our customers have already discovered that one cheap way to get DRM-free MP3s is to buy them on CD and rip them themselves." Here's a screen shot. It's common-sense advice, but still somewhat remarkable that they're addressing the issue of DRM right there on the home page. It could be that I'm seeing it and you're not (possibly because I just bought a Linux hand-held computer from Nokia). It's hard to tell.  Here's their guide to ripping CDs.
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With Sony's move to sell music unburdened by digital rights management schemes, all of the Big Four labels have now thrown DRM on the dump heap of history. But Sony and Universal are experimenting with digital watermarking -- an anti-piracy tool that has implications of its own.
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Or dearer. Or disappear? So last year's " Future of Musicâ¢", the DRM-encumbered digital downloads model pioneered by Apple, has stalled. What now?â¦
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(InfoWorld) - The head of Warner Music Group defended the use of DRM (digital rights management) with digital music on Wednesday in an apparent response toÂ recent criticism from Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Jobs roiled the music industry last week by suggesting in aÂ letter published on Apple's Web siteÂ that the music labels are to blame for the fact that music from Apple's iTunes music store can only be played on Apple's iPod music players -- something Apple has been criticized for. "DRM and interoperability are not the same thing," Edgar Dorfman Jr., chairman and CEO of Warner Music Group, said in a speech at theÂ 3GSM World CongressÂ in Barcelona on Wednesday. "We believe in interoperability," he said. "Consumers want it and should have it. We at Warner, and I hope the rest of the music and content industry, will make it as easy as possible to achieve interoperability." Jobs said last week that Apple uses a proprietary DRM system because the music industry requires it to fix any failures in the technology in a short amount of time. If Apple shared its DRM technology it would not be able to meet that requirement, he said. Dorfman did not mention Jobs or Apple by name but his remarks appeared to be in response to the criticism. Apple hasÂ come under fire,Â particularly in Europe, for its DRM technology, which ties its music stores to its players. Apple isn't alone, however. Microsoft and Sony also operate digital music stores that require customers to play the music only on their own music players. iTunes is the biggest digital music store, however, and the second largest, eMusic.com, only sells music that has no DRM. Jobs also wrote that he would prefer to sell music without any DRM protection. That's a concept Dorfman doesn't think is up for discussion. "I don't agree that intellectual property should have no protection. We should all agree that intellectual property deserves some measure of protection," he said. "But that is distinct from the issue around interoperability." Today's music protection environment isn't ideal, Dorfman admitted. "There can't be so much protection that we create a poor consumer experience. We need to work to find perhaps a better balance than works today." Â
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I can't urge you strongly enough to read the article entitled How Vista Lets Microsoft Lock Users In. It details how Microsoft has built into Vista the "trusted computing" ability to lock down Office files via DRM such that no unauthorized document reader will be able to decrypt and read them. This is perhaps one of the biggest hidden weapons Microsoft has in its arsenal that could sabotage Linux and OpenOffice.org if Microsoft succeeds in its attempt to plug SUSE and all Novell's "interoperability" bonuses.   Think of this, if you will, as the Tivoization of Office files, only with malicious intent.  Microsoft could, indeed, open up the document format completely and swear before God that it will never sue anyone for patent infringement.  However, this does not prevent Microsoft from locking Office files in such a way that only Vista users can read them.  No one else will be able to do so without the proper authorization, thus rendering the open format and Microsoft compatibility entirely meaningless.
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The first time I heard the phrase "digital rights management" was in 2000. It came from the mouth of Dick Brass, who at the time headed up Microsoft's (MSFT) automotive computing division.  I didn't like the phrase from the start.
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Today, we look at Digital Rights Management. A key question here is: "Should you distribute your video online?" Movie industry figures who have watched what happened in the music industry with Napster and its successors are determined not to find themselves in a similar predicament. When a movie studio invests $50 million in a film, it wants to be quite sure the work is not going to be passed around Kazaa and BitTorrent like so many MP3s. By Pearson Education, Inc. 1025
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A fresh version of a program designed to circumvent Microsoft's Windows Media DRM was released on Friday, but the company's saying they're not concerned.
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I'm guilty.  I'm a Software Pirate!  Not just one or two copies of DOS but probably hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of software.  Growing up my parents didn't have much money.  Certainly not hundred of thousands of dollars for me to blow on software.  I was curious and had a passion for computers that I couldn't control.  I simply wanted to learn and couldn't afford to pay for software.  Luckily I did this when I was a kid so hopefully I won't be prosecuted.  I also believe that everything I did was ethical.  I didn't take any money out of the hands of the software industry and I've already contributed WAY more to the industry than a few hundred thousand in software sales.  This is th ...
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(InfoWorld) - Digital-rights management (DRM) drags down economic growth, and countries that back the technology are doomed to lag behind, a top Linden Research Inc. executive said Thursday. DRM refers to any technology that restricts how a digital file or software can be used and shared. The technology is meant to protect the interests of copyright holders by limiting how digital content is used and insuring they get paid. But critics charge DRM is clumsy, infringes on fair-use rights, and restricts competition. DRM makes education and learning more expensive, which results in less innovation and a lower gross domestic product, said Cory Ondrejka, chief technology officer at Linden, the company behind the Second Life virtual world. "DRM makes you less competitive," Ondrejka told attendees at the iX Conference alongside the CommunicAsia show in Singapore. Countries that want to close the gap with more advanced nations should avoid DRM or they will continue to lag behind, he said. While Ondrejka's comments addressed the issue of DRM in the real world, Linden has wrestled with copyright infringement in the virtual world. Last year, some Second Life users began using CopyBot, a program capable of replicating items that other users had created and sold in Second Life. Faced with a growing chorus of complaints from users who saw their products being copied, Linden ruled in November that CopyBot violated the virtual world's terms of service and threatened to ban any user found using the program for copyright infringement. But Linden stopped short of using DRM to protect against copies in Second Life. "While Linden Lab could get into an arms race with residents in an attempt to stop this copying, those attempts would surely fail and could harm legitimate projects within Second Life," Ondrejka wrote in a blog post at that time. In that same post, Ondrejka noted Linden isn't in the business of fighting copyright infringement. "The communities within Second Life should have the tools and the freedoms to decide how and when they deal with potentially infringing content," he said.
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WASHINGTON -- Tell Santa to hurry if you want him to bring CD or DVD burners and jukebox programs. By Christmas, such gifts might be threatened if Congress passes a new law to fight movie and music pirates.
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Someone needs to buy a firewall. The game industry, Rockstar in particular, has once again been a victim of piracy. After the big-time thefts over the last year or so, such as Half-Life 2, Doom
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Send this column to your Dad. Trust me, he'll appreciate it.
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The tune seems to be changing ever so slowly at some record labels when it comes to DRM. Both out of consumer demand and to some extent necessity, some have begun to offer digital downloads in the unprotected MP3 format.
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What to do when Dad rolls his eyes at your financial choices.