DRM is for Digital Rights Management
There are many types of technologies capable of enforcing preset policies on data distributed on some medium; DRM refers to employing any of these technologies to protect copyright data. The preset policies may include, for example, restricted copying and transfer of data. DRM may be found on movies distributed on DVDs, as well as on online music stores. Many countries outlaw the working around of DRM.
Back to topThe tale of the Content Scrambling System
An early type of DRM technology is CSS. Introduced as early as in 1996, it is an encryption system for DVDs. The system encrypts data on DVDs with a certain secret key (the strength encryption was found to be rather low). Companies producing DVD players must sign an agreement with the DVD Consortium promising that they would implement certain features to prohibit users from making a digital copy of DVD data to distribute online. Companies can get the key making it possible for DVDs to be read on players they produce only after signing the agreement with the DVD Consortium.
DeCSS, a computer program enabling the decryption of CSS-encrypted DVD data, appeared on the Internet in October 1999. With the program, it was possible to make digital copies of DVDs. Since then, many similar computer programs that make it possible for Joe Everyman to work around CSS-protected DVDs have appeared on the Internet.
Even when it is not lawful to publish the DeCSS code in countries who have signed the WIPO Copyright Treaty, DeCSS can still be freely downloaded from the Internet.
Back to topApple wants consumers to “play fair” with FairPlay
Photograph of a music studio, users can burn the tunes onto a CD and then rip the CD to get an unprotected audio file.
[Picture credit: shapeshift from flickr. Licensed under CC by-nc-sa 2.0]
DRM has also been implemented on online music and music distributed on discs, by various organisations. For example, iTunes Music Store, which holds an 80% market share in the worldwide online music market, employs a form of DRM known as FairPlay. Songs consumers download are encrypted in AAC streams and can only be played on iPod, the portable music player, and computers running QuickTime and QuickTime-based software. Music consumers are able to play the songs on five computer terminals within twenty-four hours, but are able to download the songs onto as many iPods as she likes.
As with CSS, users can work around FairPlay with the help of programs that can be downloaded from the Internet. Even without such programs, however, it is possible for the consumer to burn the music onto a CD, and then rip the CD to obtain the music track without FairPlay protection.
Back to topAs always, some controversy
Near the end of 2005, some users discovered that music company Sony-BMG put in place DRM software resembling spyware in some of its CD titles. When a consumer puts a CD with Sony’s Extended Copyright Protection (XCP) technology into a computer’s CD drive, a software is copied onto the computer without the user’s knowledge or permission. The program then monitors and places restrictions on what the consumer does with the songs included on the CD. For example, the software limits how many times the tracks can be copied.
Sony’s software opens up the possibility of Internet viruses’ infecting a computer. It was also claimed that it reduces the speed at which a computer can operate. The software resists removal; if one tries to uninstall Sony’s software, the computer’s CD drive might be disabled, and the computer might even crash.
Many of Sony’s customers were infuriated at their putting in place XCP, and Sony recalled all of its unsold XCP-protected CDs in reaction to this. Sony also allowed consumers who have purchased XCP-protected CDs to exchange them with CDs without XCP. Sony has also made available software that lets users uninstall the XCP software safely. As of 2006, Sony faces class action suits in New York and California due to its implementation of XCP.
