The Digital Rights Management Prevents Consumers From Doing Everyday Tasks!

What really is DRM?

What really is DRM? DRM stands for Digital Rights Management. DRM is a way to control copyrighted material using technological means. DRM is essentially removing the usage control from the person who bought the digital content and then gives it to a computer program. It is an attempt to control what you, the consumer, can and can not do with the media and hardware you have purchased with your own hard earned money. A few companies such as Amazon, Apple, BBC, Microsoft and Sony all use this digital rights management on a daily basis. Now that we know what DRM is, our next question is how does it actually work?

The logistics of the Digital Rights Management

The Digital Rights Management operates on three different levels. They establish a copyright for a piece of content, manage the distribution of that copyright content, and control what a consumer can do with the content once it has been distributed. The first generation of DRM software merely controlled copying of files. The second generation of of DRM seeks to control viewing, printing, altering and everything else the consumer could ever do with digital content. DRM systems often encrypt material in a way that only particular devices can play or retrieve it, enforcing constraints on how it used and what device will actually be able to work with it. Lastly we will discuss why this such a controversy and what it means when you try and download something.

The actually meaning for the consumer when trying to download something

The use of Digital Rights Management is one of controversy. The content providers claim that DRM is a necessary aspect in order to fight copyright infringement online, especially when talking about the artistic control of the content. Those opposed to DRM debate there is no evidence that proves DRM actually helps prevent copyright infringement, arguing that instead it actually serves to inconvenience legitimate paying customers. They also say it helps big business stifle innovation and competition by making it easyier to quash unauthorized uses of media and technology. There are many real life instances when DRM hurts paying customers and you can find these at the embedded link. All in all it is tough to say whether I am in favor of DRM or not because it does some good and some bad in my eyes.