By: Michele Vasquez
Meaning of DRM - "Digital Rights Management", is a system of solutions created or designed
as a means to control the unauthorized duplication and illegal
distribution of copyrighted digital media. Once the Internet started
becoming popular and widely used, it was extremely easy for pirates to
copy and illegally sell a variety of marketed digital media and
products. Therefore, DRM technology was created for the publishers of
these works as a means to stop the illegal reproduction and distribution
of their products.
DRM
technology was first introduced in the late 1990s but was not widely
used by consumers because the software was very complicated and
overwhelming for the average person. Since that time, software vendors
have designed several DRM tools and some have been successful but some
have not. Although the vast majority of DRM tools have been designed
to protect copyrighted creative works or intellectual property, vendors
have created DRM’s for other reasons such as protecting an entire pc
system.
As of
today, DRM technology is still evolving. Vendors are currently working
on DRM tools that will restrict access to eBooks. There are several
popular DRM’s available for purchase that offer protection for
copyrighted games, music and videos. As with most products available for
mass distribution, DRM technology has had many opponents and supporters.
State, federal and non-US laws dealing with DRM have been introduced and
some have passed and put into affect. The majority of these laws,
whether still pending or already in affect, call for DRM technology
installation on all computer systems for control and protection of
digital media. The creative and design process continues as vendors
continually strive to come up with new DRM technology that will work and
sell better than the tools currently available.
“…Windows
Media digital rights management (DRM) is a proven platform to protect
and securely deliver content for playback on a computer, portable
device, or network device. It's flexible to support a range of business
models from single downloads or physical format delivery.” [Microsoft]
“…The
premise behind DRM is relatively simple: An individual is given rights
to a piece of content based on certain conditions. For instance, you may
be allowed to view a file once, view a file for a set period of time, or
view a file on a particular machine or device. The content, if stored
locally on a user's machine, is usually encrypted so it cannot be
accessed without the proper authentication or electronic key." [Jason
Meserve –Network World, 04/10/03
“…DRM
software lets companies enforce security policies for documents, such as
who can read, edit, print, and forward sensitive information. Encryption
technologies are typically used. “ [George Hume – FinanceTech.com,
02/16/05]
“…Digital
Rights Management: A system for authorizing the viewing or playback of
copyrighted material on a user's computer or digital music player. DRM
has centered around copyrighted music, with Apple's FairPlay and
Microsoft's Windows Digital Rights Manager being the two predominant DRM
systems. Video DRM is on the horizon as broadband Internet and more
highly compressed video formats take hold.” [Answers.com]
“…Digital
Rights Management (DRM) is one of the largest challenges facing content
owners as more and more content is distributed digitally. In the
traditional methods of distributing hard copy documents, pictures,
music, or films, the owners' rights were copyrighted. Recipients of this
content understood the procedures to duplicate the content. In today's
digital world, this content is distributed electronically across the
Internet, intranets, and extranets to thousands or millions of
end-users, with copyright laws being breached daily as these files are
copied at will.” [Hewlett-Packard, 08/15/05]
“…DRM is
technology that allows a publisher to protect copyrighted material such
as eBooks by defining the abilities or "rights." These rights determine
what users can to do with the eBooks (like opening, copying, printing).
This technology is intended to protect the works of authors by
controlling the distribution of their content to authorized users. By
using DRM, publishers and authors are able to offer books electronically
where they may not have done so without it.” [Adobe Systems, Inc. –
Adobe Reader software
“…Digital
rights management, or DRM, is an attempt to maintain "remote control"
over digital content.” [Mark Stamp – ExtremeTech.com, 05/01/03]
“…DRM
systems take two approaches to securing content. The first is
"containment," an approach where the content is encrypted in a shell so
that it can only be accessed by authorized users. The second is
"marking," the practice of placing a watermark, flag, or an electronic
tag on content as a signal to a device that the media is copy
protected.” [Cisco Systems, Inc.]
