Digital Rights Management

Digital Rights Management Part - I

Here is an attempt to preserve the views of others and my own to some place.

Around a year I am going thro different standards and implementations and perceptions of others about DRM (Digital Rights Management).

With ubiquitous mobile penetration and the convergence of media devices with mobile phones, the market for digital media has exploded in recent years. In fact it is estimated that the ring tone download business for the year 05 is approximately 4 billion. The average user has easy access to music and digital content instantaneously and from almost anywhere. While this news is good for the music and record industry it has its downsides when it comes to piracy and digital rights protection. Mobile devices and network technologies have made it easy to replicate and publish digital content by just about anyone. In fact an average Joe might be unaware that he is breaking copyright laws as he plays and forwards ring tones, music, images and video content on his phone. The set of technologies that protect the rights of the IP owner is termed as DRM and this paper attempts to define DRM, discusses possible solutions and their effectiveness.

Effects Of Piracy

“For 2004, the potential losses to the music industry through file-sharing could be as high as US$ 2.1 billion” – Informa Media Group

“36 million of the 40 million people downloading (nine in ten) in Europe are still not paying for music they download” – Forrester, August 2004

DRM is defined as a host of technologies that enable the secure distribution, promotion, and sale of digital media content. It is much more than just preventing unauthorized access or copying of content. It is a mechanism that allows access to digital content in a controlled and managed fashion.

Goal:

The goal of an effective DRM system is,

Protect the rights of the intellectual property owner

Protect the digital content user, Mobile network operators & Mobile device manufacturers from liability for copyright infringements

Must be inexpensive

Must be simple and as non-intrusive as possible

Enable healthy and legal usage of digital content

The DRM mechanism must allow different usage models such as “try before you buy”, rentals based on play counts and expiration dates subscriptions and purchase streaming and downloaded media.

Copyright law and DRM:

Copyright law will still recognize the rights to fair use. However, with DRM in place, user may not be able to exercise those rights. DRM implementations are quantitative in nature.

A digital rights management system functions in exactly the opposite way with DRM. Where copyright law is an expression of "everything that is not forbidden is permitted," DRM takes the approach of "everything that is not permitted is forbidden."

DRM protects from piracy to a larger extent.

The victims: Piracy is not a victimless crime. The economic losses due to piracy are enormous and are felt throughout the music value chain. The victims include the artists and all those involved in the performance of music; governments which lose hundreds of thousands in tax revenues; record producers, who are forced to reduce artist rosters; and consumers, who get less diversity in the music that can be produced.

Links to organized crime: Most pirates are sophisticated and organized. They are able to obtain and sell valuable intellectual property before it is even released in the legitimate marketplace. The proceeds from pirate sales fund ruthless criminal enterprises. They are encouraged by poor laws, weak enforcement and inadequate legal penalties.

Local culture suffers: Piracy sucks the lifeblood out of local culture. Talented artists in the high piracy markets of China, India, Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and elsewhere cannot get local recording contracts and have to try to make a living from touring, or move elsewhere, which means that the cultural wealth of their home country suffers.