Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Digital Rights Management shopping experience:

1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Digital Rights Management offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Digital Rights Management at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.

2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about

3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Digital Rights Management? Wrong! If the Digital Rights Management is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.

4. Questions - Got a question about Digital Rights Management then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....

5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Digital Rights Management? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Digital Rights Management and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.

6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Digital Rights Management wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.

7. Feedback - happy with your Digital Rights Management then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.

8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Digital Rights Management site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site

9. Contact - got a question about Digital Rights Management, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your Digital Rights Management, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.

Digital rights management (DRM) is an umbrella term that refers to access control technologies used by publishers and other copyright holders to limit usage of digital media or devices. It may also refer to restrictions associated with specific instances of digital works or devices. To some extent, DRM overlaps with copy protection, but DRM is usually applied to creative media (music, films, etc.) whereas copy protection typically refers to software.

The use of digital rights management has been controversial. Advocates argue it is necessary for copyright holders to prevent unauthorized duplication of their work to ensure continued revenue streams.{{cite web] 2003, maintain that the use of the word "rights" is misleading and suggest that people instead use the term digital restrictions management. Their position is essentially that copyright holders are attempting to [restriction use of copyrighted material in ways not included in the statutory, common law, or Constitutional grant of exclusive commercial use to them. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, and other opponents, also consider DRM schemes to be anti-competitive practices.

Introduction Digital rights management technologies attempt to control use of digital media by preventing access, copying or conversion by end users to other formats. Long before the arrival of digital or even electronic media, copyright holders, content producers, or other financially or artistically interested parties had business and legal objections to copying technologies. Examples include: player piano rolls early in the 20th century, Magnetic tape#Audio recording, and video tape recording (e.g. the "Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc." in the U.S.). Copying technology thus exemplifies a disruptive technology.

Digital media have vastly increased the scope of these concerns. While analog signal media inevitably loses quality with each generation loss, and in some cases even during normal use, digital media files may be duplicated an unlimited number of times with no degradation in the quality of subsequent copies. The advent of personal computers as household appliances and the sheer ease of Ripping or Radio music ripping, combined with the internet and popular file sharing tools, has made unauthorized distribution of copies of copyrighted digital files (often referred to as digital piracy) much easier. In effect, virtually any end user or consumer with an Internet connection is a potential node in a distribution network.

Although technical controls on the reproduction and use of software have been intermittently used since the 1970s, the term 'DRM' has come to primarily mean the use of these measures to control copyrightable (eg, artistic) content. Some observers claim that certain DRM technologies enable publishers to enforce access policies that not only prevent copyright violations, but also prevent legal fair use.

While DRM is most commonly used by the entertainment industry (e.g. film industry and recording industry), it has found use in other situations as well. Many online music stores, such as Apple Inc.'s iTunes Store, as well as certain e-book publishers, have adopted various DRM strategies. In recent years, a number of television producers have begun demanding implementation of DRM measures to control access to the content of their shows in connection with the popularity of time-shifting digital video recorder systems such as TiVo. DRM files purchased from iTunes have the extension .m4p.

Technologies DRM and film An early example of a DRM system was the Content Scrambling System (CSS) employed by the DVD Forum on film DVDs since circa 1996. CSS used a simple encryption algorithm, and required device manufacturers to sign license agreements that restricted the inclusion of features, such as digital outputs that could be used to extract high-quality digital copies of the film, in their players. Thus, the only consumer hardware capable of decoding DVD films was controlled, albeit indirectly, by the DVD Forum, restricting the use of DVD media on other systems until the release of DeCSS by Jon Lech Johansen in 1999, which allowed a CSS-encrypted DVD to play properly on a computer using Linux, for which the Alliance had not arranged a licensed version of the CSS playing software.

Microsoft's Windows Vista contains a DRM system called the Protected Media Path, which contains the Protected Video Path (PVP). PVP tries to stop DRM-restricted content from playing while unsigned software is running in order to prevent the unsigned software from accessing the content. Additionally, PVP can encrypt information during transmission to the monitor or the graphics card, which makes it more difficult to make unauthorized recordings.

Advanced Access Content System (AACS) is a DRM system for HD DVD and Blu-Ray Discs developed by the AACS Licensing Administrator, LLC (AACS LA), a consortium that includes Disney, Intel, Microsoft, Matsushita (Panasonic), Warner Brothers, IBM, Toshiba and Sony. In January 2007 a process key was published on the internet by crackers, enabling unrestricted access to AACS-restricted HD DVD content .

DRM and music Audio CDs In 2002, Bertelsmann (comprised of BMG, Arista and RCA) was the first corporation to use DRM on audio CDs. This was initially done on promotional CDs, but all CDs from these companies would eventually include at least some DRM.

However, these CDs could not be played on all CD players. Many consumers could also no longer play CDs they had purchased on their computers. Personal computers running Microsoft Windows would sometimes even crash when attempting to play the CDs.

In 2005, 2005 Sony BMG CD copy protection scandal which installed DRM software on user's computers. And did so without clear notification to the user and without requiring confirmation from the user. Among other things, the installed software included a rootkit, which created a severe security vulnerability others could exploit. When the nature of the DRM involved was made public much later, Sony initially minimized the significance of the vulnerabilities its software had created, but was eventually compelled to recall millions of CDs, and released several attempts to patch the surreptitiously included software to at least remove the rootkit. Several class action lawsuits were filed, which were ultimately settled by agreements to provide affected consumers with a cash payout or album downloads free of DRM.McMillan, Robert. "Settlement Ends Sony Rootkit Case." May 23, 2006. PC World. Accessed April 8, 2007. Article

Sony's DRM software actually had only a limited ability to prevent copying, as it affected only playback on Windows computers, not on other equipment. Even on the Windows platform, the copy protection feature was regularly compromised by crackers. And, while the Sony DRM technology created fundamental vulnerabilities in consumers' computers, parts of it could be trivially bypassed by holding down the "shift" key while inserting the CD, or by disabling the autorun feature. In addition, audio tracks could simply be played and re-recorded, thus completely bypassing all of the DRM (this is known as the Digital Rights Management#Analog hole). Sony's first two attempts at releasing a patch which would remove the DRM software from users' computers failed.

January 2007, EMI stopped publishing audio CDs with DRM, stating that "the costs of DRM do not measure up to the results." EMI was the last publisher to do so; audio CDs containing DRM are no longer released by any major publishers. Marechal, Sander, DRM on audio CDs abolished, January 9, 2007.

Internet music Many online music stores employ DRM to restrict usage of music purchased and downloaded online. There are many options for consumers buying digital music over the internet, in terms of both stores and purchase options.







The various services are currently not interoperable, though those that use the same DRM system (for instance the several Windows Media DRM format stores, including Napster) all provide songs that can be played side-by-side through the same player program. Almost all stores require client software of some sort to be downloaded, and some also need plug-ins. Several colleges and universities, such as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, have made arrangements with assorted Internet music suppliers to provide access (typically DRM-restricted) to music files for their students, to less than universal popularity, sometimes making payments from student activity fee funds. One of the problems is that the music becomes unplayable after leaving school unless the student continues to pay individually. Another is that few of these vendors are compatible with the most common portable music player, the Apple iPod. The Gowers Review of Intellectual Property (to HMG in the UK; 141 pages, 40+ specific recommendations) has taken note of the incompatibilities, and suggests (Recommendations 8 -- 12) that there be explicit fair dealing exceptions to copyright allowing libraries to copy and format-shift between DRM schemes, and further allowing end users to do the same privately. If adopted, some of the acrimony may decrease.

Although DRM is prevalent for Internet music, some Online music stores such as eMusic, Audio Lunchbox and Anthology recordings do not use DRM. Major labels have begun releasing more online music without DRM. Eric Bangeman suggests in Ars Technica that this is because the record labels are "slowly beginning to realize that they can't have DRMed music and complete control over the online music market at the same time... One way to break the cycle is to sell music that is playable on any digital audio player. eMusic does exactly that, and their surprisingly extensive catalog of non-DRMed music has vaulted it into the number two online music store position behind the iTunes Store." Testing DRM-free waters: EMI selling a few MP3s through Yahoo Music by Eric Bangeman, Ars Technica, December 6, 2006. Apple's Steve Jobs has called on the music industry to eliminate DRM in an open letter titled Thoughts on Music Steve Jobs, Thoughts on Music . Apple's iTunes store will start to sell DRM-free 256 kbit/s (up from 128 kbit/s) music from EMI for a premium price (this has since reverted to the standard price).In March of 2007, Musicload.de, one of Europe's largest online music retailers, announced their position strongly against DRM. In an open letter, Musicload stated that three out of every four calls to their customer support phone service are as a result of consumer frustration with DRM.

DRM and documents Enterprise digital rights management (E-DRM or ERM) is the application of DRM technology to the control of access to corporate documents such as Microsoft Word, PDF, and AutoCAD files, emails, and intranet web pages rather than to the control of consumer media . E-DRM is generally intended to prevent the unauthorized use (such as Industrial espionage or inadvertent release) of proprietary documents. E-DRM typically integrates with content management system software. An example of an E-DRM system is Microsoft's Rights Management Services. Additional E-DRM vendors include Adobe Systems, Liquid Machines, Oracle, and EMC Corporation.

DRM has been used by organizations such as the British Library in its secure electronic delivery service to permit worldwide access to substantial numbers of rare (and in many cases unique) documents which, for legal reasons, were previously only available to authorized individuals actually visiting the Library's document centre at Boston Spa in England.

Watermarks Digital watermarking are unobtrusive features of media that are added during production or distribution. Watermarks can be used for different purposes that may include:



Watermarks are not complete DRM mechanisms in their own right, but are used as part of a system for Digital Rights Management, such as helping provide prosecution evidence for purely legal avenues of rights management, rather than direct technological protection.

As an example watermarks are used in Apples iTunes for non copy protected versions of their music.

Laws regarding DRM Digital rights management systems have received some international legal backing by implementation of the 1996 WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT). Article 11 of the Treaty requires nations party to the treaties to enact laws against DRM circumvention.

The WCT has been implemented in most member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization. The American implementation is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), while in Europe the treaty has been implemented by the 2001 European directive on copyright, which requires member states of the European Union to implement legal protections for technological prevention measures. As of 2006, the lower house of the French parliament adopted such legislation as part of the controversial DADVSI law, but added that protected DRM techniques should be made interoperable, a move which caused widespread controversy in the United States.

Digital Millennium Copyright Act The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is an extension to United States copyright law passed unanimously on May 14, 1998, which criminalizes the production and dissemination of technology that allows users to circumvent technical copy-restriction methods. Under the Act, circumvention of a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work is illegal if done with the primary intent of violating the rights of copyright holders. (For a more detailed analysis of the statute, see WIPO Copyright and Performances and Phonograms Treaties Implementation Act.)

Reverse engineering of existing systems is expressly permitted under the Act under specific conditions. Under the reverse engineering safe harbor, circumvention necessary to achieve interoperability with other software is specifically authorized. See 17 U.S.C. Sec. 1201(f). Open-source software to decrypt content scrambled with the Content Scrambling System and other encryption techniques presents an intractable problem with the application of the Act. Much depends on the intent of the actor. If the decryption is done for the purpose of achieving interoperability of open source operating systems with proprietary operating systems, the circumvention would be protected by Section 1201(f) the Act. Cf., Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Corley, 273 F.3d 429 (2d Cir. 2001) at notes 5 and 16. However, dissemination of such software for the purpose of violating or encouraging others to violate copyrights has been held illegal. See Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Reimerdes, 111 F. Supp. 2d 346 (S.D.N.Y. 2000).

On 22 May, 2001, the European Union passed the EU Copyright Directive, an implementation of the 1996 WIPO Copyright Treaty that addressed many of the same issues as the DMCA.

The DMCA has been largely ineffective in protecting DRM systems, as software allowing users to circumvent DRM remains widely available, as for instance over the Internet. However, those with an interest in preserving the DRM systems have attempted to use the Act to restrict the distribution and development of such software, as in the case of DeCSS.

Although the Act contains an exception for research, the exception is subject to vague qualifiers that do little to reassure the research community. Cf., 17 U.S.C. Sec. 1201(g). The DMCA has had an impact on the worldwide cryptography research community, because many fear that their cryptanalytic research violates, or might be construed to violate, the DMCA. The arrest of Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov in 2001, for alleged infringement of the DMCA, was a highly publicized example of the law's use to prevent or penalize development of anti-DRM measures. Sklyarov was arrested in the United States after a presentation at DEF CON, and subsequently spent several months in jail. The DMCA has also been cited as chilling to non-criminal inclined users, such as students of cryptanalysis (including, in a well-known instance, Professor Felten and students at Princeton University RIAA challenges SDMI attack 2002-01-07, Retrieved on 2007-02-26), and security consultants such as Niels Ferguson, who has declined to publish information about vulnerabilities he discovered in an Intel secure-computing scheme because of his concern about being arrested under the DMCA when he travels to the US.

On 25 April, 2007 the European Parliament supported the first directive of EU, which aims to harmonize criminal law in the member states. It adopted a first reading report on harmonizing the national measures for fighting copyright abuse. If the European Parliament and the Council approve the legislation, the submitted directive will oblige the member states to consider a crime a violation of international copyright committed with commercial purposes. The text suggests numerous measures: from fines to imprisonment, depending on the gravity of the offense.

The EP members supported the Commission motion, changing some of the texts. They excluded patent rights from the range of the directive and decided that the sanctions should apply only to offenses with commercial purposes. Copying for personal, non-commercial purposes was also excluded from the range of the directive.

International issues In Europe, there are several dialog activities that are uncharacterized by its consensus-building intention: The European Community was expected to produce a recommendation on DRM in 2006, phasing out the use of levies (compensation to rights holders charged on media sales for lost revenue due to unauthorized copying) given the advances in DRM/TPM technology. However, opposition from the member states, particularly France, have now made it unlikely that the recommendation will be adopted.

Controversy The intent of DRM is to provide technical means to assure that the copyright holders (originally artists, but commonly assigned to publishers, etc.) can maintain control of their content by restricting use of digital copies. This becomes controversial because DRM imposed limitations on the use of legitimately acquired digital media do not necessarily match the fair use (fair dealing in some places) rights granted by law to owners of copies. This gives rise to concerns that DRM schemes enormously complicate, and may prevent, effective archive management and historical research as well. Others argue that DRM is ineffective at preventing illegal copies because no DRM technology is (or could possibly be) fool proof. Once one version is compromised (or simply copied from a medium without DRM) it will become widely available, e.g. on the Internet or via large-scale commercial piracy. Thus all DRM to date is claimed to be fundamentally technically flawed as a method of protecting legal copyright control. If so, its effect is essentially to ensure vendor lock-in and, likely, anti-competitive practices afterward. DRM opponents usually base their opposition on one or more of these concerns.

DRM opponents logo.Many organizations, prominent individuals, and computer scientists are opposed to DRM. Two notable DRM critics are John Walker (programmer), as expressed for instance, in his article The Digital Imprimatur: How big brother and big media can put the Internet genie back in the bottle, and Richard Stallman in his article The Right to ReadRichard Stallman, The Right to Read and in other public statements "DRM is an example of a malicious feature - a feature designed to hurt the user of the software, and therefore, it's something for which there can never be toleration". Professor Ross Anderson of Cambridge University heads a British organization which opposes DRM and similar efforts in the UK and elsewhere. Cory Doctorow, a prominent writer and technology blogger, spoke on the Microsoft campus criticizing the technology, the morality, and the marketing of DRM.Cory Doctorow, Microsoft Research DRM talk, June 17, 2004

The Electronic Frontier Foundation and similar organizations such as FreeCulture.org also hold positions which are characterized as opposed to DRM.

The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure has criticized DRM's impact as a trade barrier from a free market perspective.

The final version of the GNU General Public License version 3, as released by the Free Software Foundation, prohibits using DRM to restrict free redistribution and modification of works covered by the license, and includes a clause stating that the license's provisions shall be interpreted as disfavoring use of DRM. Also, in May 2006, the FSF launched a "Defective by Design" campaign against DRM.

Creative Commons provides licensing options encouraging the expansion of and building upon creative work without the use of DRM.

Bill Gates spoke about DRM at CES in 2006. According to him, DRM is not where it should be, and causes problems for legitimate consumers while trying to distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate users.

According to Steve Jobs, Apple Inc. opposes DRM music after a public letter calling its music labels to stop requiring DRM on its iTunes store. To date, EMI has complied. Apple considers DRM on video content as a separate issue. member protesting DRM on May 25, 2007.

As already noted, many DRM opponents consider "digital rights management" to be a misnomer. They argue that DRM manages rights (or access) the same way prison manages freedom and often refer to it as "digital restrictions management". Alternatively, ZDNet Executive Editor David Berlind suggests the term "Content Restriction, Annulment and Protection" or "CRAP" for short.

The Norwegian Consumer rights organization "Forbrukerrådet" complained to Apple Inc. in 2007 about the company's use of DRM in, and in conjunction with, its iPod and iTunes products. Apple was accused of restricting users' access to their music and videos in an unlawful way, and to use EULAs conflicting with Norwegian consumer legislation. The complaint was supported by consumers' ombudsmen in Sweden and Denmark, and is currently being reviewed in the EU.

The use of DRM may also be a barrier to future historians, since technologies designed to permit data to be read only on particular machines, or with particular keys, or for certain periods, may well make future data recovery impossible — see Digital Revolution#Concerns. This argument connects the issue of DRM with that of asset management and archive technology.

DRM opponents argue that the presence of DRM violates existing private property rights and restricts a range of heretofore normal and legal user activities. A DRM component would control a device a user owns (such as a Digital audio player) by restricting how it may act with regards to certain content, overriding some of the user's wishes (for example, preventing the user from burning a copyrighted song to Compact Disc as part of a compilation or a review). An example of this effect may be seen in Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system in which content is disabled or degraded depending on the DRM scheme's evaluation of whether the hardware and its use are 'secure'. All forms of DRM depend on the DRM enabled device (e.g., computer, DVD player, TV) imposing restrictions that (at least by intent) cannot be disabled or modified by the user.

Tools like FairUse4WM have been created to strip Windows Media of DRM restrictions.

Asus will release a soundcard which features a function called Analog Loopback Transformation to bypass the digital restrictions of DRM. This feature allows the user to record DRM-restricted audio via the soundcard's built-in analog I/O connection.

Problems with DRM Methods to bypass DRM There are many methods to bypass DRM control on audio and video content.

One simple method to bypass DRM on audio files is to burn the content to an audio CD and then Ripping it into DRM-free files. This is only possible when the software that plays these DRM-restricted audio files allows CD-burning. This DRM-removal method is usually not lossless, however, since most users will choose to rip their content into smaller music files compressed using lossy algorithms, e.g. MP3 files rather than WAV files. Some software products simplify and automate this burn-rip process by allowing the user to burn music to a CD-RW disc or to a Virtual CD-R drive, then automatically ripping and encoding the music, and automatically repeating this process until all selected music has been converted, rather than forcing the user to do this one CD (72-80 minutes' worth of music) at a time. NoteBurner M4p converter is the typical example which uses this Virtual CD-RW drive method.

Many software programs have been developed that intercept the data stream as it is decrypted out of the DRM-restricted file, and then use this data to construct a DRM-free file. This DRM-free file can be a lossless copy of the original, or can be compressed further if the user does not mind the slight loss in quality that accompanies a smaller file size. These programs require a decryption key. Programs that do this for DVDs, HD-DVDs, and Blu-Ray disks include universal decryption keys in the software itself. Programs that do this for TiVo ToGo recordings, iTunes audio, and PlaysForSure songs, however, rely on the user's own key - that is, they can only process content that the user has legally acquired under his or her own account. Examples of such software programs include QTFairUse and MyFairTunes for iTunes, RipIt4Me and DVD Fab Decrypter for DVDs, and FairUse4WM for PlaysForSure content.

Another method is to use software to record the signals being sent through the audio or video cards, or to plug analog recording devices into the analog outputs of the media player. These techniques utilize the so-called "analog hole" (see below).

Analog hole All forms of DRM for audio and visual material are subject to the 'analog hole', namely that in order for a viewer to enjoy the material, the digital signal must be turned into an analog signal containing light and/or sound for the viewer, and so available to be copied as no DRM is capable of controlling content in this form.

All DRM to date, and probably all future ones can therefore be bypassed by recording this signal and digitally storing and distributing it in a non DRM limited form. However the conversion from digital to analogue and back is likely to force a loss of quality, particularly when using lossy digital formats.

DRM on general computing platforms Many of the DRM systems in use are designed to work on general purpose computing hardware, such as desktop PCs apparently because this equipment is felt to be a major contributor to revenue loss from disallowed copying. Large commercial pirates avoid consumer equipment, so losses from such infringers will not be covered by such provisions.

Some {{cite web|url=http://www.craphound.com/msftdrm.txt|title=Microsoft Research DRM Talk|author=Cory Doctorow|year=June 17 [2004, necessary to decrypt the content. It is suggested that one can always extract this information and decrypt and copy the content, bypassing the restrictions imposed by a DRM system.

DRM on distributed purpose built hardware Many DRM schemes use encrypted media which requires purpose built hardware to hear or see the content. This appears to ensure that only licensed users (those with the hardware) can access the content. It additionally tries to protect a secret decryption key from the users of the system.

While this in principle can work, it is extremely difficult to build the hardware to protect the secret key against a sufficiently determined adversary. Many such systems have failed in the field, and in fact, it is thought that none have yet survived several years of deployment. Once the secret key is known, building a version of the hardware that performs no checks is often relatively straightforward.

In addition user verification provisions are frequently subject to attack.

Watermarks Watermarks are usually easily removed, although some degradation of visual or audio will typically occur.

In particular, most compression is intended to only retain perceptible features of an image, and hence if the watermarks are invisible, then they are very typically removed by compression systems as a side-effect.

Historical note A very early — possibly the earliest — implementation of DRM was the Software Service System (SSS) devised by the Japanese engineer Ryoichi Mori in 1983Patent application 58-186100 (in Japanese), Software Management System, Japan Patent Office, October 5, 1983, Ryoichi Mori, applicant. (The usual English translation of the application lists Forest Akikazu as the applicant, but that is a mistranslation of Mori's name.)and subsequently refined under the name superdistribution. The SSS was based on encryption, with specialized hardware that controlled decryption and also enabled payments to be sent to the copyright holder. The underlying principle of the SSS and subsequently of superdistribution was that the distribution of encrypted digital products should be completely unrestricted and that users of those products would not just be permitted to redistribute them but would actually be encouraged to do so.

See also Related concepts

Lobbying organizations

References

Further reading

External links

Digital rights management (DRM) is an umbrella term that refers to access control technologies used by publishers and other copyright holders to limit usage of digital media or devices. It may also refer to restrictions associated with specific instances of digital works or devices. To some extent, DRM overlaps with copy protection, but DRM is usually applied to creative media (music, films, etc.) whereas copy protection typically refers to software.

The use of digital rights management has been controversial. Advocates argue it is necessary for copyright holders to prevent unauthorized duplication of their work to ensure continued revenue streams.{{cite web] 2003, maintain that the use of the word "rights" is misleading and suggest that people instead use the term digital restrictions management. Their position is essentially that copyright holders are attempting to [restriction use of copyrighted material in ways not included in the statutory, common law, or Constitutional grant of exclusive commercial use to them. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, and other opponents, also consider DRM schemes to be anti-competitive practices.

Introduction Digital rights management technologies attempt to control use of digital media by preventing access, copying or conversion by end users to other formats. Long before the arrival of digital or even electronic media, copyright holders, content producers, or other financially or artistically interested parties had business and legal objections to copying technologies. Examples include: player piano rolls early in the 20th century, Magnetic tape#Audio recording, and video tape recording (e.g. the "Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc." in the U.S.). Copying technology thus exemplifies a disruptive technology.

Digital media have vastly increased the scope of these concerns. While analog signal media inevitably loses quality with each generation loss, and in some cases even during normal use, digital media files may be duplicated an unlimited number of times with no degradation in the quality of subsequent copies. The advent of personal computers as household appliances and the sheer ease of Ripping or Radio music ripping, combined with the internet and popular file sharing tools, has made unauthorized distribution of copies of copyrighted digital files (often referred to as digital piracy) much easier. In effect, virtually any end user or consumer with an Internet connection is a potential node in a distribution network.

Although technical controls on the reproduction and use of software have been intermittently used since the 1970s, the term 'DRM' has come to primarily mean the use of these measures to control copyrightable (eg, artistic) content. Some observers claim that certain DRM technologies enable publishers to enforce access policies that not only prevent copyright violations, but also prevent legal fair use.

While DRM is most commonly used by the entertainment industry (e.g. film industry and recording industry), it has found use in other situations as well. Many online music stores, such as Apple Inc.'s iTunes Store, as well as certain e-book publishers, have adopted various DRM strategies. In recent years, a number of television producers have begun demanding implementation of DRM measures to control access to the content of their shows in connection with the popularity of time-shifting digital video recorder systems such as TiVo. DRM files purchased from iTunes have the extension .m4p.

Technologies DRM and film An early example of a DRM system was the Content Scrambling System (CSS) employed by the DVD Forum on film DVDs since circa 1996. CSS used a simple encryption algorithm, and required device manufacturers to sign license agreements that restricted the inclusion of features, such as digital outputs that could be used to extract high-quality digital copies of the film, in their players. Thus, the only consumer hardware capable of decoding DVD films was controlled, albeit indirectly, by the DVD Forum, restricting the use of DVD media on other systems until the release of DeCSS by Jon Lech Johansen in 1999, which allowed a CSS-encrypted DVD to play properly on a computer using Linux, for which the Alliance had not arranged a licensed version of the CSS playing software.

Microsoft's Windows Vista contains a DRM system called the Protected Media Path, which contains the Protected Video Path (PVP). PVP tries to stop DRM-restricted content from playing while unsigned software is running in order to prevent the unsigned software from accessing the content. Additionally, PVP can encrypt information during transmission to the monitor or the graphics card, which makes it more difficult to make unauthorized recordings.

Advanced Access Content System (AACS) is a DRM system for HD DVD and Blu-Ray Discs developed by the AACS Licensing Administrator, LLC (AACS LA), a consortium that includes Disney, Intel, Microsoft, Matsushita (Panasonic), Warner Brothers, IBM, Toshiba and Sony. In January 2007 a process key was published on the internet by crackers, enabling unrestricted access to AACS-restricted HD DVD content .

DRM and music Audio CDs In 2002, Bertelsmann (comprised of BMG, Arista and RCA) was the first corporation to use DRM on audio CDs. This was initially done on promotional CDs, but all CDs from these companies would eventually include at least some DRM.

However, these CDs could not be played on all CD players. Many consumers could also no longer play CDs they had purchased on their computers. Personal computers running Microsoft Windows would sometimes even crash when attempting to play the CDs.

In 2005, 2005 Sony BMG CD copy protection scandal which installed DRM software on user's computers. And did so without clear notification to the user and without requiring confirmation from the user. Among other things, the installed software included a rootkit, which created a severe security vulnerability others could exploit. When the nature of the DRM involved was made public much later, Sony initially minimized the significance of the vulnerabilities its software had created, but was eventually compelled to recall millions of CDs, and released several attempts to patch the surreptitiously included software to at least remove the rootkit. Several class action lawsuits were filed, which were ultimately settled by agreements to provide affected consumers with a cash payout or album downloads free of DRM.McMillan, Robert. "Settlement Ends Sony Rootkit Case." May 23, 2006. PC World. Accessed April 8, 2007. Article

Sony's DRM software actually had only a limited ability to prevent copying, as it affected only playback on Windows computers, not on other equipment. Even on the Windows platform, the copy protection feature was regularly compromised by crackers. And, while the Sony DRM technology created fundamental vulnerabilities in consumers' computers, parts of it could be trivially bypassed by holding down the "shift" key while inserting the CD, or by disabling the autorun feature. In addition, audio tracks could simply be played and re-recorded, thus completely bypassing all of the DRM (this is known as the Digital Rights Management#Analog hole). Sony's first two attempts at releasing a patch which would remove the DRM software from users' computers failed.

January 2007, EMI stopped publishing audio CDs with DRM, stating that "the costs of DRM do not measure up to the results." EMI was the last publisher to do so; audio CDs containing DRM are no longer released by any major publishers. Marechal, Sander, DRM on audio CDs abolished, January 9, 2007.

Internet music Many online music stores employ DRM to restrict usage of music purchased and downloaded online. There are many options for consumers buying digital music over the internet, in terms of both stores and purchase options.







The various services are currently not interoperable, though those that use the same DRM system (for instance the several Windows Media DRM format stores, including Napster) all provide songs that can be played side-by-side through the same player program. Almost all stores require client software of some sort to be downloaded, and some also need plug-ins. Several colleges and universities, such as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, have made arrangements with assorted Internet music suppliers to provide access (typically DRM-restricted) to music files for their students, to less than universal popularity, sometimes making payments from student activity fee funds. One of the problems is that the music becomes unplayable after leaving school unless the student continues to pay individually. Another is that few of these vendors are compatible with the most common portable music player, the Apple iPod. The Gowers Review of Intellectual Property (to HMG in the UK; 141 pages, 40+ specific recommendations) has taken note of the incompatibilities, and suggests (Recommendations 8 -- 12) that there be explicit fair dealing exceptions to copyright allowing libraries to copy and format-shift between DRM schemes, and further allowing end users to do the same privately. If adopted, some of the acrimony may decrease.

Although DRM is prevalent for Internet music, some Online music stores such as eMusic, Audio Lunchbox and Anthology recordings do not use DRM. Major labels have begun releasing more online music without DRM. Eric Bangeman suggests in Ars Technica that this is because the record labels are "slowly beginning to realize that they can't have DRMed music and complete control over the online music market at the same time... One way to break the cycle is to sell music that is playable on any digital audio player. eMusic does exactly that, and their surprisingly extensive catalog of non-DRMed music has vaulted it into the number two online music store position behind the iTunes Store." Testing DRM-free waters: EMI selling a few MP3s through Yahoo Music by Eric Bangeman, Ars Technica, December 6, 2006. Apple's Steve Jobs has called on the music industry to eliminate DRM in an open letter titled Thoughts on Music Steve Jobs, Thoughts on Music . Apple's iTunes store will start to sell DRM-free 256 kbit/s (up from 128 kbit/s) music from EMI for a premium price (this has since reverted to the standard price).In March of 2007, Musicload.de, one of Europe's largest online music retailers, announced their position strongly against DRM. In an open letter, Musicload stated that three out of every four calls to their customer support phone service are as a result of consumer frustration with DRM.

DRM and documents Enterprise digital rights management (E-DRM or ERM) is the application of DRM technology to the control of access to corporate documents such as Microsoft Word, PDF, and AutoCAD files, emails, and intranet web pages rather than to the control of consumer media . E-DRM is generally intended to prevent the unauthorized use (such as Industrial espionage or inadvertent release) of proprietary documents. E-DRM typically integrates with content management system software. An example of an E-DRM system is Microsoft's Rights Management Services. Additional E-DRM vendors include Adobe Systems, Liquid Machines, Oracle, and EMC Corporation.

DRM has been used by organizations such as the British Library in its secure electronic delivery service to permit worldwide access to substantial numbers of rare (and in many cases unique) documents which, for legal reasons, were previously only available to authorized individuals actually visiting the Library's document centre at Boston Spa in England.

Watermarks Digital watermarking are unobtrusive features of media that are added during production or distribution. Watermarks can be used for different purposes that may include:



Watermarks are not complete DRM mechanisms in their own right, but are used as part of a system for Digital Rights Management, such as helping provide prosecution evidence for purely legal avenues of rights management, rather than direct technological protection.

As an example watermarks are used in Apples iTunes for non copy protected versions of their music.

Laws regarding DRM Digital rights management systems have received some international legal backing by implementation of the 1996 WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT). Article 11 of the Treaty requires nations party to the treaties to enact laws against DRM circumvention.

The WCT has been implemented in most member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization. The American implementation is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), while in Europe the treaty has been implemented by the 2001 European directive on copyright, which requires member states of the European Union to implement legal protections for technological prevention measures. As of 2006, the lower house of the French parliament adopted such legislation as part of the controversial DADVSI law, but added that protected DRM techniques should be made interoperable, a move which caused widespread controversy in the United States.

Digital Millennium Copyright Act The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is an extension to United States copyright law passed unanimously on May 14, 1998, which criminalizes the production and dissemination of technology that allows users to circumvent technical copy-restriction methods. Under the Act, circumvention of a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work is illegal if done with the primary intent of violating the rights of copyright holders. (For a more detailed analysis of the statute, see WIPO Copyright and Performances and Phonograms Treaties Implementation Act.)

Reverse engineering of existing systems is expressly permitted under the Act under specific conditions. Under the reverse engineering safe harbor, circumvention necessary to achieve interoperability with other software is specifically authorized. See 17 U.S.C. Sec. 1201(f). Open-source software to decrypt content scrambled with the Content Scrambling System and other encryption techniques presents an intractable problem with the application of the Act. Much depends on the intent of the actor. If the decryption is done for the purpose of achieving interoperability of open source operating systems with proprietary operating systems, the circumvention would be protected by Section 1201(f) the Act. Cf., Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Corley, 273 F.3d 429 (2d Cir. 2001) at notes 5 and 16. However, dissemination of such software for the purpose of violating or encouraging others to violate copyrights has been held illegal. See Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Reimerdes, 111 F. Supp. 2d 346 (S.D.N.Y. 2000).

On 22 May, 2001, the European Union passed the EU Copyright Directive, an implementation of the 1996 WIPO Copyright Treaty that addressed many of the same issues as the DMCA.

The DMCA has been largely ineffective in protecting DRM systems, as software allowing users to circumvent DRM remains widely available, as for instance over the Internet. However, those with an interest in preserving the DRM systems have attempted to use the Act to restrict the distribution and development of such software, as in the case of DeCSS.

Although the Act contains an exception for research, the exception is subject to vague qualifiers that do little to reassure the research community. Cf., 17 U.S.C. Sec. 1201(g). The DMCA has had an impact on the worldwide cryptography research community, because many fear that their cryptanalytic research violates, or might be construed to violate, the DMCA. The arrest of Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov in 2001, for alleged infringement of the DMCA, was a highly publicized example of the law's use to prevent or penalize development of anti-DRM measures. Sklyarov was arrested in the United States after a presentation at DEF CON, and subsequently spent several months in jail. The DMCA has also been cited as chilling to non-criminal inclined users, such as students of cryptanalysis (including, in a well-known instance, Professor Felten and students at Princeton University RIAA challenges SDMI attack 2002-01-07, Retrieved on 2007-02-26), and security consultants such as Niels Ferguson, who has declined to publish information about vulnerabilities he discovered in an Intel secure-computing scheme because of his concern about being arrested under the DMCA when he travels to the US.

On 25 April, 2007 the European Parliament supported the first directive of EU, which aims to harmonize criminal law in the member states. It adopted a first reading report on harmonizing the national measures for fighting copyright abuse. If the European Parliament and the Council approve the legislation, the submitted directive will oblige the member states to consider a crime a violation of international copyright committed with commercial purposes. The text suggests numerous measures: from fines to imprisonment, depending on the gravity of the offense.

The EP members supported the Commission motion, changing some of the texts. They excluded patent rights from the range of the directive and decided that the sanctions should apply only to offenses with commercial purposes. Copying for personal, non-commercial purposes was also excluded from the range of the directive.

International issues In Europe, there are several dialog activities that are uncharacterized by its consensus-building intention: The European Community was expected to produce a recommendation on DRM in 2006, phasing out the use of levies (compensation to rights holders charged on media sales for lost revenue due to unauthorized copying) given the advances in DRM/TPM technology. However, opposition from the member states, particularly France, have now made it unlikely that the recommendation will be adopted.

Controversy The intent of DRM is to provide technical means to assure that the copyright holders (originally artists, but commonly assigned to publishers, etc.) can maintain control of their content by restricting use of digital copies. This becomes controversial because DRM imposed limitations on the use of legitimately acquired digital media do not necessarily match the fair use (fair dealing in some places) rights granted by law to owners of copies. This gives rise to concerns that DRM schemes enormously complicate, and may prevent, effective archive management and historical research as well. Others argue that DRM is ineffective at preventing illegal copies because no DRM technology is (or could possibly be) fool proof. Once one version is compromised (or simply copied from a medium without DRM) it will become widely available, e.g. on the Internet or via large-scale commercial piracy. Thus all DRM to date is claimed to be fundamentally technically flawed as a method of protecting legal copyright control. If so, its effect is essentially to ensure vendor lock-in and, likely, anti-competitive practices afterward. DRM opponents usually base their opposition on one or more of these concerns.

DRM opponents logo.Many organizations, prominent individuals, and computer scientists are opposed to DRM. Two notable DRM critics are John Walker (programmer), as expressed for instance, in his article The Digital Imprimatur: How big brother and big media can put the Internet genie back in the bottle, and Richard Stallman in his article The Right to ReadRichard Stallman, The Right to Read and in other public statements "DRM is an example of a malicious feature - a feature designed to hurt the user of the software, and therefore, it's something for which there can never be toleration". Professor Ross Anderson of Cambridge University heads a British organization which opposes DRM and similar efforts in the UK and elsewhere. Cory Doctorow, a prominent writer and technology blogger, spoke on the Microsoft campus criticizing the technology, the morality, and the marketing of DRM.Cory Doctorow, Microsoft Research DRM talk, June 17, 2004

The Electronic Frontier Foundation and similar organizations such as FreeCulture.org also hold positions which are characterized as opposed to DRM.

The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure has criticized DRM's impact as a trade barrier from a free market perspective.

The final version of the GNU General Public License version 3, as released by the Free Software Foundation, prohibits using DRM to restrict free redistribution and modification of works covered by the license, and includes a clause stating that the license's provisions shall be interpreted as disfavoring use of DRM. Also, in May 2006, the FSF launched a "Defective by Design" campaign against DRM.

Creative Commons provides licensing options encouraging the expansion of and building upon creative work without the use of DRM.

Bill Gates spoke about DRM at CES in 2006. According to him, DRM is not where it should be, and causes problems for legitimate consumers while trying to distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate users.

According to Steve Jobs, Apple Inc. opposes DRM music after a public letter calling its music labels to stop requiring DRM on its iTunes store. To date, EMI has complied. Apple considers DRM on video content as a separate issue. member protesting DRM on May 25, 2007.

As already noted, many DRM opponents consider "digital rights management" to be a misnomer. They argue that DRM manages rights (or access) the same way prison manages freedom and often refer to it as "digital restrictions management". Alternatively, ZDNet Executive Editor David Berlind suggests the term "Content Restriction, Annulment and Protection" or "CRAP" for short.

The Norwegian Consumer rights organization "Forbrukerrådet" complained to Apple Inc. in 2007 about the company's use of DRM in, and in conjunction with, its iPod and iTunes products. Apple was accused of restricting users' access to their music and videos in an unlawful way, and to use EULAs conflicting with Norwegian consumer legislation. The complaint was supported by consumers' ombudsmen in Sweden and Denmark, and is currently being reviewed in the EU.

The use of DRM may also be a barrier to future historians, since technologies designed to permit data to be read only on particular machines, or with particular keys, or for certain periods, may well make future data recovery impossible — see Digital Revolution#Concerns. This argument connects the issue of DRM with that of asset management and archive technology.

DRM opponents argue that the presence of DRM violates existing private property rights and restricts a range of heretofore normal and legal user activities. A DRM component would control a device a user owns (such as a Digital audio player) by restricting how it may act with regards to certain content, overriding some of the user's wishes (for example, preventing the user from burning a copyrighted song to Compact Disc as part of a compilation or a review). An example of this effect may be seen in Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system in which content is disabled or degraded depending on the DRM scheme's evaluation of whether the hardware and its use are 'secure'. All forms of DRM depend on the DRM enabled device (e.g., computer, DVD player, TV) imposing restrictions that (at least by intent) cannot be disabled or modified by the user.

Tools like FairUse4WM have been created to strip Windows Media of DRM restrictions.

Asus will release a soundcard which features a function called Analog Loopback Transformation to bypass the digital restrictions of DRM. This feature allows the user to record DRM-restricted audio via the soundcard's built-in analog I/O connection.

Problems with DRM Methods to bypass DRM There are many methods to bypass DRM control on audio and video content.

One simple method to bypass DRM on audio files is to burn the content to an audio CD and then Ripping it into DRM-free files. This is only possible when the software that plays these DRM-restricted audio files allows CD-burning. This DRM-removal method is usually not lossless, however, since most users will choose to rip their content into smaller music files compressed using lossy algorithms, e.g. MP3 files rather than WAV files. Some software products simplify and automate this burn-rip process by allowing the user to burn music to a CD-RW disc or to a Virtual CD-R drive, then automatically ripping and encoding the music, and automatically repeating this process until all selected music has been converted, rather than forcing the user to do this one CD (72-80 minutes' worth of music) at a time. NoteBurner M4p converter is the typical example which uses this Virtual CD-RW drive method.

Many software programs have been developed that intercept the data stream as it is decrypted out of the DRM-restricted file, and then use this data to construct a DRM-free file. This DRM-free file can be a lossless copy of the original, or can be compressed further if the user does not mind the slight loss in quality that accompanies a smaller file size. These programs require a decryption key. Programs that do this for DVDs, HD-DVDs, and Blu-Ray disks include universal decryption keys in the software itself. Programs that do this for TiVo ToGo recordings, iTunes audio, and PlaysForSure songs, however, rely on the user's own key - that is, they can only process content that the user has legally acquired under his or her own account. Examples of such software programs include QTFairUse and MyFairTunes for iTunes, RipIt4Me and DVD Fab Decrypter for DVDs, and FairUse4WM for PlaysForSure content.

Another method is to use software to record the signals being sent through the audio or video cards, or to plug analog recording devices into the analog outputs of the media player. These techniques utilize the so-called "analog hole" (see below).

Analog hole All forms of DRM for audio and visual material are subject to the 'analog hole', namely that in order for a viewer to enjoy the material, the digital signal must be turned into an analog signal containing light and/or sound for the viewer, and so available to be copied as no DRM is capable of controlling content in this form.

All DRM to date, and probably all future ones can therefore be bypassed by recording this signal and digitally storing and distributing it in a non DRM limited form. However the conversion from digital to analogue and back is likely to force a loss of quality, particularly when using lossy digital formats.

DRM on general computing platforms Many of the DRM systems in use are designed to work on general purpose computing hardware, such as desktop PCs apparently because this equipment is felt to be a major contributor to revenue loss from disallowed copying. Large commercial pirates avoid consumer equipment, so losses from such infringers will not be covered by such provisions.

Some {{cite web|url=http://www.craphound.com/msftdrm.txt|title=Microsoft Research DRM Talk|author=Cory Doctorow|year=June 17 [2004, necessary to decrypt the content. It is suggested that one can always extract this information and decrypt and copy the content, bypassing the restrictions imposed by a DRM system.

DRM on distributed purpose built hardware Many DRM schemes use encrypted media which requires purpose built hardware to hear or see the content. This appears to ensure that only licensed users (those with the hardware) can access the content. It additionally tries to protect a secret decryption key from the users of the system.

While this in principle can work, it is extremely difficult to build the hardware to protect the secret key against a sufficiently determined adversary. Many such systems have failed in the field, and in fact, it is thought that none have yet survived several years of deployment. Once the secret key is known, building a version of the hardware that performs no checks is often relatively straightforward.

In addition user verification provisions are frequently subject to attack.

Watermarks Watermarks are usually easily removed, although some degradation of visual or audio will typically occur.

In particular, most compression is intended to only retain perceptible features of an image, and hence if the watermarks are invisible, then they are very typically removed by compression systems as a side-effect.

Historical note A very early — possibly the earliest — implementation of DRM was the Software Service System (SSS) devised by the Japanese engineer Ryoichi Mori in 1983Patent application 58-186100 (in Japanese), Software Management System, Japan Patent Office, October 5, 1983, Ryoichi Mori, applicant. (The usual English translation of the application lists Forest Akikazu as the applicant, but that is a mistranslation of Mori's name.)and subsequently refined under the name superdistribution. The SSS was based on encryption, with specialized hardware that controlled decryption and also enabled payments to be sent to the copyright holder. The underlying principle of the SSS and subsequently of superdistribution was that the distribution of encrypted digital products should be completely unrestricted and that users of those products would not just be permitted to redistribute them but would actually be encouraged to do so.

See also Related concepts

Lobbying organizations

References

Further reading

External links



Digital Rights Management from FOLDOC
Digital Rights Management < legal > (DRM) Any technology used to limit the use of software, music, movies or other digital data. This generally relies on some interaction between ...

Digital rights management - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Digital rights management (DRM) is an umbrella term that refers to access control technologies used by publishers and copyright holders to limit usage of digital media or devices.

Digital Rights Management Conference
Conference held in Berkeley, California. Contains a schedule, list of speakers, and sponsors.

Aslib Training - Digital Rights Management
What are TPMs and what are the issues for library and information specialists?

Digital Rights Management (DRM)
Official release covering Windows Media Player. Includes information for professionals about SDK, benefits, tutorials, and support.

Digital rights management | Technology | guardian.co.uk
Digital rights management ... Jul 10 2008: An agreement on intellectual property rights to be ratified by the G8 heads of government highlights conflicts between ownership and ...

Digital Rights Management - 3rd Conference 2005 in Berlin
Digital Rights Management - 3rd Conference 2005 in Berlin ... Digital Rights Management (DRM) promises novel business models for the distribution of and access to all ...

BBC NEWS | Technology | Q&A: What is DRM?
Learn about Digital Rights Management technology, which lets copyright holders restrict the use of their content.

Digital Rights Management (DRM) : Digital-Lifestyles ...
Digital-Lifestyles (alpha remix) Reporting the effects of Technology on the Media and Communications.

Digital rights management - Twofour Digital
Digital Rights Management. Twofour allows you to sell and protect your media content quickly and easily using our tried and tested Windows Media Digital Rights Management solutions

 

Digital Rights Management



 
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