What Is Digital Rights Management
Per Dictionary.com, Digital Rights Management of DRM, is "any technology used to limit the use of software, music, movies or other digital data."
"But what does this mean?" you're asking. Well, essentially, DRM is what keeps you from reproducing or redistributing the data from that new CD/MP3/e-book/DVD you bought - it keeps pirates at bay, if you will.
As you can imagine, many musicians, producers, and record labels see DRM as an effective way of protecting their intellectual property - it helps make sure that all of the right players are given their due credit, and all royalties are paid out as they should be. What might catch you by surprise, though, is that not all writers or musicians agree. Some see it as a way for publishing companies to limit who can sell their works and how they can be sold.
DRM is incredibly expensive (in fact, DRM can cost as much as $10,000 upfront), and these costs fall upon the 'seller' of the product rather than on the producer or publisher. For instance, if an e-book is sold on Amazon, the publisher of this book can require Amazon to use DRM technologies to limit the likelihood of piracy of this text. In order for Amazon to obey this request, it must first pay for the server, software, and fees associated with DRM encryption. Once these services are payed for upfront there are then continuous fees for the software and rights to the text themselves that must be covered monthly. While this cost is a drop-in-the-bucket for Amazon, small-scale or independent book sellers may find $10k more difficult to afford.
As you can imagine, many musicians, producers, and record labels see DRM as an effective way of protecting their intellectual property - it helps make sure that all of the right players are given their due credit, and all royalties are paid out as they should be. What might catch you by surprise, though, is that not all writers or musicians agree. Some see it as a way for publishing companies to limit who can sell their works and how they can be sold.
DRM is incredibly expensive (in fact, DRM can cost as much as $10,000 upfront), and these costs fall upon the 'seller' of the product rather than on the producer or publisher. For instance, if an e-book is sold on Amazon, the publisher of this book can require Amazon to use DRM technologies to limit the likelihood of piracy of this text. In order for Amazon to obey this request, it must first pay for the server, software, and fees associated with DRM encryption. Once these services are payed for upfront there are then continuous fees for the software and rights to the text themselves that must be covered monthly. While this cost is a drop-in-the-bucket for Amazon, small-scale or independent book sellers may find $10k more difficult to afford.
But How Does It Work?
As we know by now, DRM encryption is a very intricate and costly process, but what does that process look like? First, a company has to pay for software that can encrypt files. Once the software has been acquired, the files are run through the program, which scrambles the content up and allows for it only to be copied or viewed as many times as legally agreed upon.
Now, if you have ever been on an overseas trip and tried to watch your favorite DVD only to be met with an error message saying something to the effect of "Content Not Allowed in Viewing Area", you can thank DRM for that too. Another form of DRM is the "Country Code" on a DVD - these files are encrypted in much the same was as e-book files or MP3s, but in the scrambling process the file is modified to only be playable in the agreed upon countries.
DRM & Personal Media Collections
Understandably, some forms of DRM cause some consumer frustration since they limit access to legally obtained media. Let's go back to that example of you trying to watch your DVD in Italy instead of listening to your 4 y/o brother's music - you bought that movie perfectly legally, you paid for it with real money and maybe even went to a real store to buy it, but you can't watch it because you're on vacation and the DVD has been encrypted! Of course you're frustrated, who wants to listen to The Wiggles over and over again?? Another reason for frustration, though, is that DRM also controls the number of times you can copy a DVD for your own use. If a family isn't a "traditional" family unit, and wants to copy a DVD to have it at both mom's and dad's house, and then perhaps a copy for grandma's, in many cases you can't. DRM would force the family to buy Despicable Me twice, since intellectual property laws dictate that a DVD can only be copied once.
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