The Computer Corner
Rights and wrongs
By Charles Miller
October 17, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

This is the fourth and final in a series of columns on the subject of software licensing. The question is, “What is DRM?” If you Google that acronym you will get more than 10 million hits; I can only touch on the highlights here. Digital rights management (DRM) is a generic term that refers to access control technologies implemented by publishers and copyright holders in cooperation with hardware manufacturers to limit usage of digital media or devices.

It is a broad term applicable to software, film, video, audio, music and other creative media.

The use of DRM is one of the more controversial issues of the day. Proponents argue it is necessary for copyright holders to prevent people from stealing their work. Opponents contend that copyright holders are attempting to restrict use of copyrighted material in ways that exceed their right to do so under existing laws.

The manufacturers of computer hardware, video DVD players and portable music devices are part of the equation in that they have implemented specific design changes in their devices to use DRM. This is the reason some music cannot be (easily) copied to your iPod and the reason a DVD movie from Europe might not play on your machine that plays North American movies just fine.

The battle of copyright holders versus technology has been going on for many years. When video players came on the market in the seventies, the movie industry exerted pressure to make them unable to record. Before that, in the fifties, the music industry felt tape recorders should be made illegal because they could be used to record copyrighted music. Interested parties historically have objected to new copying technologies, even player piano rolls.

The ubiquity of the home personal computer in the last two decades has put tools into the hands of most people who want to engage in copyright infringement. Technologically there is almost no difference between backing up data for security reasons and copying data to share illegal copies.

An entire generation of computer users has grown accustomed to copying software, music and videos with little consideration of whether it is illegal to do so, but DRM technology is catching up with them. New versions of computer operating systems are starting to incorporate DRM technology intended to thwart many types of copyright violations. Meanwhile, hardware manufacturers are building new players that will only work with legitimate content.

Opponents argue that this and other DRM schemes interfere with fair use—their definition of “fair use.” Even Bill Gates obliquely referred to this when he said that DRM is not where it should be and causes problems for legitimate consumers while trying to distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate users.

DRM technologies attempt to control customers’ use of digital media by preventing access, copying, etc. This can never be completely effective because in the real world almost all widely used DRM systems are eventually circumvented.

The present state of DRM is that, although it can be circumvented, the time and effort that must be expended to do so exceeds the benefit. When you try to install and use pirated software, or try to copy pirated music to your player, you may be confronted with spending many hours getting around its DRM—long enough to make most users go out and buy a legal copy.

Charles Miller is a freelance computer consultant, a frequent visitor to San Miguel since 1981 and now practically a full-time resident. He may be contacted at 044 (415) 101-8528 or email FAQ8@SMAguru.com.