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Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures (TPM) such as
access control In the fields of physical security and information security, access control (AC) is the selective restriction of access to a place or other resource, while access management describes the process. The act of ''accessing'' may mean consuming ...
technologies can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. DRM technologies govern the use, modification, and distribution of copyrighted works (such as software and multimedia content), as well as systems that enforce these policies within devices. Laws in many countries criminalize the circumvention of DRM, communication about such circumvention, and the creation and distribution of tools used for such circumvention. Such laws are part of the United States' Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and the European Union's Information Society Directive (the French DADVSI is an example of a member state of the European Union implementing the directive). DRM techniques include licensing agreements and encryption. The industry has expanded the usage of DRM to various hardware products, such as Keurig's coffeemakers, Philips'
light bulb An electric light, lamp, or light bulb is an electrical component that produces light. It is the most common form of artificial lighting. Lamps usually have a base made of ceramic, metal, glass, or plastic, which secures the lamp in the soc ...
s, mobile device power chargers, and
John Deere Deere & Company, doing business as John Deere (), is an American corporation that manufactures agricultural machinery, heavy equipment, forestry machinery, diesel engines, drivetrains (axles, transmissions, gearboxes) used in heavy equipment, ...
's tractors. For instance, tractor companies try to prevent farmers from making repairs via DRM. DRM users argue that the technology is necessary to protect intellectual property, just as physical locks prevent
personal property property is property that is movable. In common law systems, personal property may also be called chattels or personalty. In civil law systems, personal property is often called movable property or movables—any property that can be moved fr ...
from theft, that it can help the copyright holder maintain artistic control, and to support licensing modalities such as rentals. DRM is not without controversy. Critics of DRM contend that no evidence proves that DRM helps prevent copyright infringement, arguing that it serves only to inconvenience legitimate customers, and that DRM can stifle innovation and competition. Furthermore, works can become permanently inaccessible if the DRM scheme changes or if a required service is discontinued. DRM technologies have been criticized for restricting individuals from copying or using the content legally, such as by fair use or by making backup copies. DRM is in common use by the
entertainment industry Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and Interest (emotion), interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have dev ...
(''e.g.'', audio and video publishers). Many online stores such as OverDrive, use DRM technologies, as do cable and satellite service operators. Apple removed DRM technology from
iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
around 2009. Typical DRM also prevents lending materials out through a library, or accessing works in the public domain.


Introduction

The rise of digital media and analog-to-digital conversion technologies has increased the concerns of copyright-owners, particularly within the music and video industries. While
analog Analog or analogue may refer to: Computing and electronics * Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable ** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals *** Analog electronics, circuits which use analo ...
media inevitably lose quality with each copy generation and during normal use, digital media files may be duplicated without limit with no degradation. Digital devices make it convenient for consumers to convert (
rip Rest in peace (RIP), a phrase from the Latin (), is sometimes used in traditional Christian services and prayers, such as in the Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, and Methodist denominations, to wish the soul of a decedent eternal rest and peace. ...
) media originally in a physical, analog or broadcast form into a digital form for portability or later use. Combined with the Internet and file-sharing tools, made unauthorized distribution of copyrighted content (
digital piracy Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, su ...
) much easier.


History

DRM became a major concern with the growth of the Internet in the 1990s, as piracy crushed CD sales and online video became popular. It peaked in the early 2000s as various countries attempted to respond with legislation and regulations and dissipated in the 2010s as social media,
streaming services An over-the-top media service is a streaming media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet. OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms, the companies that traditionally act as a controller or distributors of s ...
largely replaced piracy and content providers elaborated next-generation business models.


Early efforts

In 1983, the Software Service System (SSS) devised by the Japanese engineer Ryuichi Moriya was the first example of DRM technology. It was subsequently refined under the name
superdistribution Superdistribution is an approach to distributing digital products such as software, videos, and recorded music in which the products are made publicly available and distributed in encrypted form instead of being sold in retail outlets or online shop ...
. The SSS was based on encryption, with specialized hardware that controlled decryption and enabled payments to be sent to the copyright holder. The underlying principle was that the physical distribution of encrypted digital products should be completely unrestricted and that users of those products would be encouraged to do so. An early DRM protection method for computer and
Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...
games was when the game would pause and prompt the player to look up a certain page in a booklet or manual that came with the game; if the player lacked access to the material, they would not be able to continue. An early example of a DRM system is the Content Scramble System (CSS) employed by the
DVD Forum The DVD Forum is an international organization composed of hardware, software, media and production companies that use and develop the DVD and formerly HD DVD formats. It was initially known as the DVD Consortium when it was founded in 1995. H ...
on DVD movies. CSS uses an encryption algorithm to encrypt content on the DVD disc. Manufacturers of DVD players must license this technology and implement it in their devices so that they can decrypt the content. The CSS license agreement includes restrictions on how the DVD content is played, including what outputs are permitted and how such permitted outputs are made available. This keeps the encryption intact as the content is displayed. In May 1998, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) passed as an amendment to US copyright law. It had controversial (possibly unintended) implications. Russian programmer
Dmitry Sklyarov ''United States v. ElcomSoft and Dmitry Sklyarov'' was a 2001–2002 criminal case in which Dmitry Sklyarov and his employer ElcomSoft were charged with alleged violation of the DMCA. The case raised some concerns of civil rights and legal proces ...
was arrested for alleged DMCA infringement after a presentation at
DEF CON DEF CON (also written as DEFCON, Defcon or DC) is a hacker convention held annually in Las Vegas, Nevada. The first DEF CON took place in June 1993 and today many attendees at DEF CON include computer security professionals, journalists, lawyer ...
. The DMCA has been cited as chilling to legitimate users; such as security consultants including
Niels Ferguson Niels T. Ferguson (born 10 December 1965, Eindhoven) is a Dutch cryptographer and consultant who currently works for Microsoft. He has worked with others, including Bruce Schneier, designing cryptographic algorithms, testing algorithms and protoco ...
, who declined to publish vulnerabilities he discovered in Intel's secure-computing scheme due to fear of arrest under DMCA; and blind or visually impaired users of
screen reader A screen reader is a form of assistive technology (AT) that renders text and image content as speech or braille output. Screen readers are essential to people who are blindness, blind, and are useful to people who are visual impairment, visually ...
s or other
assistive technologies Assistive technology (AT) is a term for assistive, adaptive, and rehabilitative devices for people with disabilities and the elderly. Disabled people often have difficulty performing activities of daily living (ADLs) independently, or even with ...
. In 1999, Jon Lech Johansen released DeCSS, which allowed a CSS-encrypted DVD to play on a computer running Linux, at a time when no compliant DVD player for Linux had yet been created. The legality of DeCSS is questionable: one of its authors was sued, and reproduction of the keys themselves is subject to restrictions as
illegal number An illegal number is a number that represents information which is illegal to possess, utter, propagate, or otherwise transmit in some legal jurisdiction. Any piece of digital information is representable as a number; consequently, if communicat ...
s. More modern examples include ADEPT, FairPlay, Advanced Access Content System. The World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty (WCT) was passed in 1996. The US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), was passed in 1998. The European Union enacted the Information Society Directive. In 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. The
Tribunal de grande instance de Paris The ''Tribunal judiciaire de Paris'' (abbreviated TJ; in English: ''Judicial Court of Paris''), located at the Judicial Campus of Paris in Batignolles, is the largest court in France by caseload. It replaced the capital's former ''Tribunal de gra ...
concluded in 2006, that the complete blocking of any possibilities of making private copies was an impermissible behaviour under French copyright law.


2000s

The broadcast flag concept was developed by Fox Broadcasting in 2001, and was supported by the MPAA and the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC). A ruling in May 2005 by a United States courts of appeals held that the FCC lacked authority to impose it on the US TV industry. It required that all HDTVs obey a stream specification determining whether a stream can be recorded. This could block instances of fair use, such as
time-shifting In broadcasting, time shifting is the recording of programming to a storage medium to be viewed or listened to after the live broadcasting. Typically, this refers to TV programming but it can also refer to radio shows via podcasts. In recent year ...
. It achieved more success elsewhere when it was adopted by the Digital Video Broadcasting Project (DVB), a consortium of about 250 broadcasters, manufacturers, network operators, software developers, and regulatory bodies from about 35 countries involved in attempting to develop new digital TV standards. In January 2001, the Workshop on Digital Rights Management of the World Wide Web Consortium was held. On 22 May 2001, the European Union passed the Information Society Directive, with copyright protections. In 2003, the European Committee for Standardization/Information Society Standardization System (CEN/ISSS) DRM Report was published. In 2004, the Consultation process of the European Commission, and the DG Internal Market, on the Communication COM(2004)261 by the European Commission on "Management of Copyright and Related Rights" closed. In 2005, DRM Workshops of Directorate-General for Information Society and Media (European Commission), and the work of the High Level Group on DRM were held. In 2005,
Sony BMG Sony BMG Music Entertainment was an American record company owned as a 50–50 joint venture between Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann. The venture's successor, the revived Sony Music, is wholly owned by Sony, following their buyout o ...
installed DRM software on users' computers without clearly notifying the user or requiring confirmation. Among other things, the software included a rootkit, which created a security vulnerability. When the nature of the software was made public much later, Sony BMG initially minimized the significance of the vulnerabilities, but eventually recalled millions of CDs, and made several attempts to patch the software to remove the rootkit. 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. Microsoft's media player Zune released in 2006 did not support content that used Microsoft's PlaysForSure DRM scheme. Windows Media DRM, reads instructions from media files in a rights management language that states what the user may do with the media. Later versions of Windows Media DRM implemented music subscription services that make downloaded files unplayable after subscriptions are cancelled, along with the ability for a regional lockout. Tools like
FairUse4WM Windows Media DRM or WMDRM, is a Digital Rights Management service for the Windows Media platform. It is designed to provide delivery of audio or video content over an IP network to a PC or other playback device in such a way that the distributor ca ...
strip Windows Media of DRM restrictions. The Gowers Review of Intellectual Property by the British Government from
Andrew Gowers Andrew Gowers (born 1957) was appointed editor of the ''Financial Times'' in October 2001. He resigned from this post in November 2005 citing "strategic differences". In March 2012 he was appointed Director of External Relations at the Association ...
was published in 2006 with recommendations regarding copyright terms, exceptions, orphaned works, and copyright enforcement. DVB (
DVB-CPCM DVB Content Protection & Copy Management often abbreviated to DVB-CPCM or CPCM is a digital rights management standard being developed by the DVB Project. Its main application is interoperable rights management of European digital television, th ...
) is an updated variant of the broadcast flag. The technical specification was submitted to European governments in March 2007. As with much DRM, the CPCM system is intended to control use of copyrighted material by the end-user, at the direction of the copyright holder. According to Ren Bucholz of the
Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. The foundation was formed on 10 July 1990 by John Gilmore, John Perry Barlow and Mitch Kapor to promote Internet ci ...
(EFF), "You won't even know ahead of time whether and how you will be able to record and make use of particular programs or devices". The normative sections were approved for publication by the DVB Steering Board, and formalized by
ETSI The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is an independent, not-for-profit, standardization organization in the field of information and communications. ETSI supports the development and testing of global technical standard ...
as a formal European Standard (TS 102 825-X) where X refers to the Part number. Nobody has yet stepped forward to provide a
Compliance and Robustness Compliance and Robustness, sometimes abbreviated as C&R, refers to the legal structure or regime underlying a Digital Rights Management (DRM) system. In many cases, the C&R regime for a given DRM is provided by the same company that sells the DRM s ...
regime for the standard, so it is not presently possible to fully implement a system, as no supplier of device certificates has emerged. In December 2006, the industrial-grade Advanced Access Content System (AACS) for HD DVD and
Blu-ray Disc The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and c ...
s, a process key was published by hackers, which enabled unrestricted access to AACS-protected content. In January 2007, EMI stopped publishing audio CDs with DRM, stating that "the costs of DRM do not measure up to the results." In March, Musicload.de, one of Europe's largest internet 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. Apple Inc. made music DRM-free after April 2007 and labeled all music as "DRM-Free" after 2008. Other works sold on iTunes such as apps, audiobooks, movies, and TV shows are protected by DRM. In October 2007, British rock band
Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...
released '' In Rainbows'', for which fans could choose the amount they paid, or download it for free. A notable DRM failure happened in November 2007, when videos purchased from Major League Baseball prior to 2006 became unplayable due to a change to the servers that validate the licenses. In 2007, the European Parliament supported the EU's direction on copyright protection. Asus released a soundcard which features a function called "Analog Loopback Transformation" to bypass the restrictions of DRM. This feature allows the user to record DRM-restricted audio via the soundcard's built-in analog I/O connection. Digital distributor
GOG.com GOG.com (formerly Good Old Games) is a digital distribution platform for video games and films. It is operated by GOG sp. z o.o., a wholly owned subsidiary of CD Projekt based in Warsaw, Poland. GOG.com delivers DRM-free video games through its ...
(formerly Good Old Games) specializes in PC video games and has a strict non-DRM policy. Baen Books and
O'Reilly Media O'Reilly Media (formerly O'Reilly & Associates) is an American learning company established by Tim O'Reilly that publishes books, produces tech conferences, and provides an online learning platform. Its distinctive brand features a woodcut of an ...
, dropped DRM prior to 2012, when Tor Books, a major publisher of science fiction and fantasy books, first sold DRM-free e-books. The
Axmedis AXMEDIS is a set of European Union digital content standards, initially created as a research project running from 2004 to 2008 partially supported by the European Commission under the Information Society Technologies (IST DG-INFSO) programme of ...
project completed in 2008. It was a European Commission Integrated Project of the FP6, has as its main goal automating content production, copy protection, and distribution, to reduce the related costs, and to support DRM at both B2B and B2C areas, harmonizing them. The
INDICARE {{Notability, date=October 2012 Goal The overall goal of INDICARE (The INformed DIalogue about Consumer Acceptability of DRM Solutions in Europe) was to help to reconcile heterogeneous interests of multiple stakeholders, and to support the emerge ...
project was a dialogue on consumer acceptability of DRM solutions in Europe that completed in 2008. In mid-2008, the Windows version of '' Mass Effect'' marked the start of a wave of titles primarily making use of SecuROM for DRM and requiring authentication with a server. The use of the DRM scheme in 2008's ''
Spore In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, f ...
'' led to protests, resulting in searches for an unlicensed version. This backlash against the activation limit led ''Spore'' to become the most pirated game in 2008, topping the top 10 list compiled by TorrentFreak. However, ''Tweakguides'' concluded that DRM does not appear to increase video game piracy, noting that other games on the list, such as ''
Call of Duty 4 ''Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare'' is a 2007 first-person shooter video game developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision. It is the fourth main installment in the ''Call of Duty'' series. The game breaks away from the World War I ...
'' and ''
Assassin's Creed ''Assassin's Creed'' is an open-world, action-adventure, and stealth game franchise published by Ubisoft and developed mainly by its studio Ubisoft Montreal using the game engine Anvil and its more advanced derivatives. Created by Patrice D ...
'', use DRM without limits or online activation. Additionally, other video games that use DRM, such as '' BioShock'', '' Crysis Warhead'', and ''Mass Effect'', do not appear on the list. Many mainstream publishers continued to rely on online DRM throughout the later half of 2008 and early 2009, including Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Valve, and
Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...
, '' The Sims 3'' being a notable exception in the case of Electronic Arts. Ubisoft broke with the tendency to use online DRM in late 2008, with the release of ''Prince of Persia'' as an experiment to "see how truthful people really are" regarding the claim that DRM was inciting people to use illegal copies. Although Ubisoft has not commented on the results of the "experiment", Tweakguides noted that two torrents on
Mininova Mininova was a website offering BitTorrent downloads. Mininova was once one of the largest sites offering torrents of copyrighted material, but in November 2009, following legal action in the Dutch courts, the site operators deleted all torrent ...
had over 23,000 people downloading the game within 24 hours of its release. In 2009, Amazon remotely deleted purchased copies of
George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...
's ''
Animal Farm ''Animal Farm'' is a beast fable, in the form of satirical allegorical novella, by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. It tells the story of a group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to crea ...
'' (1945) and '' Nineteen Eighty-Four'' (1949) from customers'
Amazon Kindle Amazon Kindle is a series of e-readers designed and marketed by Amazon. Amazon Kindle devices enable users to browse, buy, download, and read e-books, newspapers, magazines and other digital media via wireless networking to the Kindle Store. ...
s after refunding the purchase price. Commentators described these actions as Orwellian and compared Amazon to
Big Brother Big Brother may refer to: * Big Brother (''Nineteen Eighty-Four''), a character from George Orwell's novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' ** Authoritarian personality, any omnipresent figure representing oppressive control ** Big Brother Awards, a sat ...
from ''Nineteen Eighty-Four''. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos then issued a public apology. FSF wrote that this was an example of the excessive power Amazon has to remotely censor content, and called upon Amazon to drop DRM. Amazon then revealed the reason behind its deletion: the e-books in question were unauthorized reproductions of Orwell's works, which were not within the public domain and that the company that published and sold on Amazon's service had no right to do so.


2010-

Ubisoft formally announced a return to online authentication on 9 February 2010, through its Uplay online game platform, starting with ''
Silent Hunter 5 ''Silent Hunter 5: Battle of the Atlantic'' is a submarine simulator for Microsoft Windows developed by Ubisoft Bucharest and published by Ubisoft. It is the fifth and latest installment of the ''Silent Hunter'' franchise and the successor of '' ...
'', ''
The Settlers 7 ''The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom'' (german: Die Siedler 7) is a city-building game with real-time strategy elements, developed by Blue Byte and published by Ubisoft. Released for Microsoft Windows and macOS in March 2010, it is the seventh g ...
'', and '' Assassin's Creed II''. ''Silent Hunter 5'' was first reported to have been compromised within 24 hours of release, but users of the cracked version soon found out that only early parts of the game were playable. The Uplay system works by having the installed game on the local PCs incomplete and then continuously downloading parts of the game code from Ubisoft's servers as the game progresses. It was more than a month after the PC release in the first week of April that software was released that could bypass Ubisoft's DRM in ''Assassin's Creed II''. The software did this by emulating a Ubisoft server for the game. Later that month, a real crack was released that was able to remove the connection requirement altogether. In March 2010, Uplay servers suffered a period of inaccessibility due to a large-scale
DDoS attack In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyber-attack A cyberattack is any offensive maneuver that targets computer information systems, computer networks, infrastructures, or personal computer devices. An attacker is a p ...
, causing around 5% of game owners to become locked out of playing their game. The company later credited owners of the affected games with a free download, and there has been no further downtime. In 2011, comedian
Louis C.K. Louis Alfred Székely (; born September 12, 1967), known professionally as Louis C.K. (), is an American stand-up comedian, screenwriter, actor, and filmmaker. C.K. won three Peabody Awards, three Grammy Awards, six Primetime Emmy Awards, and a ...
released his concert film ''
Live at the Beacon Theater ''Live at the Beacon Theater'' is the fourth full-length comedy special/concert film by comedian Louis C.K. The special takes place at the Beacon Theatre in Manhattan, New York. In contrast to his previous specials, which had been produced for ...
'' as an inexpensive (US$5), DRM-free download. The only attempt to deter unlicensed copies was a letter emphasizing the lack of corporate involvement and direct relationship between artist and viewer. The film was a commercial success, turning a profit within 12 hours of its release. The artist suggested that piracy rates were lower than normal as a result, making the release an important case study for the digital marketplace. In 2012, the
EU Court of Justice The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) (french: Cour de justice de l'Union européenne or "''CJUE''"; Latin: Curia) is the judicial branch of the European Union (EU). Seated in the Kirchberg quarter of Luxembourg City, Luxembourg ...
ruled in favor of reselling copyrighted games. In 2012, India implemented digital rights management protection.Zakir Thomas, 'Overview of Changes to Indian Copyright Law'
012 012 may refer to: * Tyrrell 012, a Formula One racing car * The dialing code for Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassie ...
17 Journal of Intellectual Property Rights pp 324–334, 332
Arul George Scaria, 'Does India Need Digital Rights Management Provisions or Better Digital Business Management Strategies?'
012 012 may refer to: * Tyrrell 012, a Formula One racing car * The dialing code for Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassie ...
17 Journal of Intellectual Property Rights pp. 463–477, 465
In 2012, webcomic '' Diesel Sweeties'' released a DRM-free PDF e-book. He followed this with a DRM-free iBook specifically for the iPad that generated more than 10,000 downloads in three days. That led Stevens to launch a
Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
project – "ebook stravaganza 3000" – to fund the conversion of 3,000 comics, written over 12 years, into a single "humongous" e-book to be released both for free and through the iBookstore; launched 8 February 2012, with the goal of raising $3,000 in 30 days. The "payment optional" DRM-free model in this case was adopted on Stevens' view that "there is a class of webcomics reader who would prefer to read in large chunks and, even better, would be willing to spend a little money on it." In February 2012,
Double Fine Double Fine Productions, Inc. is an American first-party video game developer of Xbox Game Studios based in San Francisco, California. Founded in July 2000 by Tim Schafer shortly after his departure from LucasArts, Double Fine's first two game ...
asked for
crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...
for an upcoming video game, ''
Double Fine Adventure ''Broken Age'' is a point-and-click adventure video game developed and published by Double Fine. ''Broken Age'' was game director Tim Schafer's first return to the genre since 1998's ''Grim Fandango'', and was released for Microsoft Windows, macO ...
'', on
Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
and offered the game DRM-free for backers. This project exceeded its original goal of $400,000 in 45 days, raising in excess of $2 million. Crowdfunding acted as a pre-order or alternatively as a
subscription The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century, and ...
. After the success of ''Double Fine Adventure'', many games were crowd-funded and many offered a DRM-free version. Websitessuch as library.nu (shut down by court order on 15 February 2012), BookFi, BookFinder,
Library Genesis Library Genesis (Libgen) is a file-sharing based shadow library website for scholarly journal articles, academic and general-interest books, images, comics, audiobooks, and magazines. The site enables free access to content that is otherwise p ...
, and Sci-Huballowed e-book downloading by violating copyright. As of 2013, other developers, such as Blizzard Entertainment put most of the game logic is on the "side" or taken care of by the servers of the game maker. Blizzard uses this strategy for its game '' Diablo III'' and Electronic Arts used this same strategy with their reboot of ''SimCity'', the necessity of which has been questioned. In 2014, the
EU Court of Justice The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) (french: Cour de justice de l'Union européenne or "''CJUE''"; Latin: Curia) is the judicial branch of the European Union (EU). Seated in the Kirchberg quarter of Luxembourg City, Luxembourg ...
ruled that circumventing DRM on game devices was legal under some circumstances. In 2014, digital comic distributor Comixology allowed rights holders to provide the option of DRM-free downloads. Publishers that allow this include Dynamite Entertainment,
Image Comics Image Comics is an American comic book publisher and is the third largest comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry in both unit and market share. It was founded in 1992 by several high-profile illustrators as a venue for creator-ow ...
,
Thrillbent This is a bibliography of American comic book writer Mark Waid, who is known for his work on DC Comics titles ''The Flash'', '' Kingdom Come'' and '' Superman: Birthright'' as well as his work on ''Captain America'', ''Fantastic Four'' and '' Dare ...
, Top Shelf Productions, and
Zenescope Entertainment Zenescope Entertainment is a comic book and graphic novel publisher headquartered in Horsham, Pennsylvania, United States, co-founded by Joe Brusha and Ralph Tedesco in 2005. Zenescope publishes full-color action, fantasy and horror titles. Unde ...
.


Technologies


Verification


Product keys

A
product key A product key, also known as a software key, serial key or activation key, is a specific software-based key for a computer program. It certifies that the copy of the program is original. Product keys consist of a series of numbers and/or letters ...
, typically an alphanumerical string, can represent a license to a particular copy of software. During the installation process or software launch, the user is asked to enter the key; if the key is valid (typically via internal algorithms), the key is accepted, and the user can continue. Product keys can be combined with other DRM practices (such as online "activation"), to prevent cracking the software to run without a product key, or using a keygen to generate acceptable keys.


Activation limits

DRM can limit the number of devices on which a legal user can install content. This restriction typically support 3-5 devices. This affects users who have more devices than the limit. Some allow one device to be replaced with another. Without this software and hardware upgrades may require an additional purchase.


Persistent online DRM

Always-on DRM checks and rechecks authorization while the content is in use by interacting with a server operated by the copyright holder. In some cases, only part of the content is actually installed, while the rest is downloaded dynamically during use.


Encryption

Encryption alters content in a way that means that it can be used without first decrypting it. Encryption can ensure that other restriction measures cannot be bypassed by modifying software, so DRM systems typically rely on encryption in addition to other techniques.


Copy restriction

Microsoft PlayReady prevents illicit copying of multimedia and other files. Restrictions can be applied to electronic books and documents, in order to prevent copying, printing, forwarding, and creating backup copies. This is common for both
e-publisher Electronic publishing (also referred to as publishing, digital publishing, or online publishing) includes the digital publication of e-books, digital magazines, and the development of digital libraries and catalogues. It also includes the editing ...
s and enterprise
Information Rights Management Information rights management (IRM) is a subset of digital rights management (DRM), technologies that protect sensitive information from unauthorized access. It is sometimes referred to as E-DRM or Enterprise Digital Rights Management. This can ca ...
. It typically integrates with content management system software. While some commentators claim that DRM complicates e-book publishing, it has been used by organizations such as the British Library in its
secure electronic delivery service Secure Electronic Delivery (SED) is a service created in 2003 and provided by the British Library Document Supply Service (BLDSS). Its purpose is to enable faster delivery of digital materials as encrypted, copyright-compliant PDF Documents, to ...
to permit worldwide access to rare documents which, for legal reasons, were previously only available to authorized individuals actually visiting the Library's document centre. Four main e-book DRM schemes are in common use, from
Adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...
, Amazon, Apple, and the Marlin Trust Management Organization (MTMO). * Adobe's DRM is applied to EPUBs and PDFs, and can be read by several third-party e-book readers, as well as Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) software.
Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller. It is a Fortune 1000 company and the bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. As of July 7, 2020, the company operates 614 retail stores across all 50 U. ...
uses DRM technology provided by Adobe, applied to EPUBs and the older
PDB (Palm OS) PDB is a container format for record databases in Palm OS, Garnet OS and Access Linux Platform. Its structure is similar to PRC resource databases.N. Rhodes, J. McKeehan. Palm OS Programming, Second Edition, O'Reilly, 2001, The PalmDOC eBook fo ...
format e-books. * Amazon's DRM is an adaption of the original
Mobipocket Mobipocket SA was a French company incorporated in March 2000 that created the .mobi e-book file format and produced the Mobipocket Reader software for mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDA) and desktop operating systems. The Mobipoc ...
encryption and is applied to Amazon's .azw4, KF8, and Mobipocket format e-books. Topaz format e-books have their own encryption system. * Apple's FairPlay DRM is applied to EPUBs and can be read only by Apple's
iBooks iBooks may refer to: * iBooks, the former name of Apple Books. * ibooks Inc., a book and comics publishing company founded by Byron Preiss Byron Preiss (April 11, 1953 – July 9, 2005)iOS devices and Mac OS computers. * The Marlin DRM was developed and is maintained by open industry group Marlin Developer Community (MDC) and is licensed by MTMO. (Marlin was founded by Intertrust, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, and Sony.) Online textbook publisher
Kno Kno, Inc. was a software company that worked with publishers to offer digital textbooks and other educational materials. In November 2013, after raising nearly $100 million in venture capital, the company was acquired by Intel. The website was ...
uses Marlin to protect EPUB books. These books can be read on the Kno App for iOS and
Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...
.


Runtime restrictions

Windows Vista contains a DRM system called
Protected Media Path The Protected Media Path is a set of technologies creating a "Protected Environment," first included in Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system, that is used to enforce digital rights management (or DRM) protections on content. Its subsets are ...
, which contains 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 A graphics card (also called a video card, display card, graphics adapter, VGA card/VGA, video adapter, display adapter, or mistakenly GPU) is an expansion card which generates a feed of output images to a display device, such as a computer moni ...
, which makes it more difficult to make unauthorized recordings.
Bohemia Interactive Bohemia Interactive a.s. is a Czech video game developer and video game publisher, publisher based in Prague. The company focuses on creating military simulation games such as ''Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis'' and the ''ARMA (series), A ...
have used a form of technology since '' Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis'', wherein if the game copy is suspected of being unauthorized, annoyances like guns losing their accuracy or the players turning into a bird are introduced. Croteam's '' Serious Sam 3: BFE'' causes a special invincible foe in the game to appear and constantly attack the player until they are killed.


Regional lockout

Regional lockout (or region coding) prevents the use of a certain product or service, except in a specific region or territory. Lockout may be enforced through physical means, through technological means such as inspecting the user's IP address or using an identifying code, or through unintentional means introduced by devices that support only region-specific technologies (such as video formats, i.e., NTSC and PAL).


Tracking


Watermarks

Digital watermarks A digital watermark is a kind of marker covertly embedded in a noise-tolerant signal such as audio, video or image data. It is typically used to identify ownership of the copyright of such signal. "Watermarking" is the process of hiding digital inf ...
can be steganographically embedded within audio or video data. They can be used for recording the copyright owner, the distribution chain or identifying the purchaser. They are not complete DRM mechanisms in their own right, but are used as part of a system for copyright enforcement, such as helping provide evidence for legal purposes, rather than enforcing restrictions. Some audio/video editing programs may distort, delete, or otherwise interfere with watermarks. Signal/modulator-carrier chromatography may separate watermarks from the recording or detect them as glitches. Additionally, comparison of two separately obtained copies of audio using basic algorithms can reveal watermarks.


Metadata

Sometimes,
metadata Metadata is "data that provides information about other data", but not the content of the data, such as the text of a message or the image itself. There are many distinct types of metadata, including: * Descriptive metadata – the descriptive ...
is included in purchased media which records information such as the purchaser's name, account information, or email address. Also included may be the file's publisher, author, creation date, download date, and various notes. This information is not embedded in the content, as a watermark is. It is kept separate from the content, but within the file or stream. As an example, metadata is used in media purchased from iTunes for DRM-free as well as DRM-restricted content. This information is included as MPEG standard metadata.


Hardware

US Cable television set-top boxes require a specific piece of hardware to operate. The CableCard standard is used to restrict content to services to which the customer is subscribed. Content has an embedded
broadcast flag A broadcast flag is a bit field sent in the data stream of a digital television program that indicates whether or not the data stream can be recorded, or if there are any restrictions on recorded content. Possible restrictions include the inabili ...
that the card examines to decide whether the content can be viewed by a specific user.


Implementations

*
Analog Protection System The Analog Protection System (APS), also known as Copyguard or Macrovision, is a VHS and DVD copy protection system originally developed by Macrovision. Video tapes copied from DVDs encoded with APS become garbled and unwatchable. The process work ...
(Macrovision) *
DCS Copy Protection EchoStar Corporation is an American company, a worldwide provider of satellite communication and Internet services through its Hughes Network Systems and EchoStar Satellite Services business segments. EchoStar is based out of unincorporated Arapa ...
* B-CAS * CableCARD *
Broadcast flag A broadcast flag is a bit field sent in the data stream of a digital television program that indicates whether or not the data stream can be recorded, or if there are any restrictions on recorded content. Possible restrictions include the inabili ...
*
DVB-CPCM DVB Content Protection & Copy Management often abbreviated to DVB-CPCM or CPCM is a digital rights management standard being developed by the DVB Project. Its main application is interoperable rights management of European digital television, th ...
*
Copy Control Information Copy Control Information (CCI) is a two byte flag included in digital television streams that allows content owners and cable operators to specify how content can be duplicated. Originally defined as part of the 5C copy protection specification de ...
* ISDB#Copy-protection technology * FairPlay *
Sony rootkit A scandal erupted in 2005 regarding Sony BMG's implementation of copy protection measures on about 22 million CDs. When inserted into a computer, the CDs installed one of two pieces of software that provided a form of digital rights management ...
* Content Scramble System (CSS) * ARccOS protection * Advanced Access Content System (AACS) *
Content Protection for Recordable Media Content Protection for Recordable Media and Pre-Recorded Media (CPRM / CPPM) is a mechanism for controlling the copying, moving, and deletion of digital media on a host device, such as a personal computer, or other player. It is a form of digit ...
(CPRM) * Digital Transmission Content Protection * High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) *
Protected Media Path The Protected Media Path is a set of technologies creating a "Protected Environment," first included in Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system, that is used to enforce digital rights management (or DRM) protections on content. Its subsets are ...
* Trusted Platform Module#Uses * Intel Management Engine#Design *
Cinavia Cinavia, originally called Verance Copy Management System for Audiovisual Content (VCMS/AV), is an analog watermarking and steganography system under development by Verance since 1999, and released in 2010. In conjunction with the existing Adv ...
* HTML5 video Encrypted Media Extensions (HTML5 EME, often implemented with Widevine) *
Denuvo Denuvo Anti-Tamper is an anti-tamper technology and digital rights management (DRM) system developed by Austrian software company Denuvo Software Solutions GmbH, a subsidiary of Irdeto. The company also developed an anti-cheat counterpart. Hi ...
* StarForce * SafeDisc * SecuROM In addition, platforms such as
Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
may include DRM mechanisms. Most of the mechanisms above are copy protection mechanisms rather than DRM mechanisms per se.


Laws

The World Intellectual Property Organization supports the World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty (WCT) which requires nations to enact laws against DRM circumvention. The WIPO Internet Treaties do not mandate criminal sanctions, merely requiring "effective legal remedies".


China

China's Interim Regulations ostensibly regulate digital content. China claims to protect intellectual property rights, although the World Trade Organization (WTO) "determined that China's copyright laws do not provide the same efficacy to non-Chinese nationals as they do to Chinese citizens, as required by the Berne Convention" and that "China's copyright laws do not provide enforcement procedures so as to permit effective action against any act of infringement of intellectual property rights".


European Union

The EU operates under its Information Society Directive, its WIPO implementation. The European Parliament then directed member states to outlaw violation of international copyright for commercial purposes. Punishments range from fines to imprisonment. It excluded patent rights and copying for personal, non-commercial purposes. Copyrighted games can be resold. Circumventing DRM on game devices is legal under some circumstances; protections cover only technological measures the interfere with prohibited actions.


India

India is not a signatory to WIPO Copyright Treaty or the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty. Its Copyright Act provides protections for digital content, criminalizing circumvention of technical protections and distribution of illicit copies. Punishment includes prison time. Fair use is not explicitly addressed.


Israel

Israel is not a signatory to the WIPO Copyright Treaty. Israeli law does not expressly prohibit the circumvention of technological protection measures.


United States

US protections are governed by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). It criminalizes the production and dissemination of technology that lets users circumvent copy-restrictions. Reverse engineering is expressly permitted, providing a
safe harbor A safe harbor or harbour is literally a "place of shelter and safety, esp. for ships". It is used in many contexts: Film and television * Safe harbor (broadcasting), established in 1978 in the US, the time period in a television schedule during wh ...
where circumvention is necessary to interoperate with other software. Open-source software that decrypts protected content is not prohibited per se. Decryption done for the purpose of achieving interoperability of open source operating systems with proprietary systems is protected. Dissemination of such software for the purpose of violating or encouraging others to violate copyrights is prohibited. DMCA has been largely ineffective. Cirumvention software is widely available. However, those who wish to preserve the DRM systems have attempted to use the Act to restrict the distribution and development of such software, as in the case of DeCSS. DMCA contains an exception for research, although the exception is subject to qualifiers that created uncertainty in that community. Cryptanalytic research may violate the DMCA, although this is unresolved.


Notable lawsuits

* ''
DVD Copy Control Association, Inc. v. Bunner ''DVD Copy Control Association, Inc. v. Bunner'' was a lawsuit that was filed by the DVD Copy Control Association ("DVD CCA") in California, accusing Andrew Bunner and several others of misappropriation of trade secrets under California's implemen ...
'' * '' DVD Copy Control Association, Inc. v. Kaleidescape, Inc.'' * ''
RealNetworks, Inc. v. DVD Copy Control Association, Inc. ''RealNetworks, Inc. v. DVD Copy Control Association, Inc.'', 641 F. Supp. 2d 913 (2009), is a United States District Court case involving RealNetworks, the movie studios and DVD Copy Control Association regarding the Digital Millennium Copyrigh ...
'' * ''
Universal v. Reimerdes ''Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Corley'' (originally known as ''Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Reimerdes'')'','' 273 F.3d 429 (2nd Cir., 2001), was a court ruling at the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.''Universal City S ...
''


Opposition

DRM faces widespread opposition. John Walker and Richard Stallman are notable critics. Stallman claimed that using the word "rights" is misleading and suggests that the word "restrictions", as in "Digital Restrictions Management", replace it. This terminology was adopted by other writers and critics. Other prominent critics include Ross Anderson, who heads a British organization that opposes DRM and similar efforts in the UK and elsewhere, and Cory Doctorow.
EFF EFF or eff may refer to: Politics * Economic Freedom Fighters, a South African communist political party * Economic Freedom Fund, an American political organization * Election Fighting Fund, a British suffragist organization supporting the ear ...
and organizations such as
FreeCulture.org Students for Free Culture, formerly known as FreeCulture.org, is an international student organization working to promote free culture ideals, such as cultural participation and access to information. It was inspired by the work of former Stanfo ...
are opposed to DRM. The
Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) is a non-profit organisation based in Munich, Germany, dedicated to establishing a free market in information technology, by the removal of barriers to competition. The FFII played a ke ...
criticized DRM's effect as a trade barrier from a free market perspective. Bruce Schneier argues that digital copy prevention is futile: "What the entertainment industry is trying to do is to use technology to contradict that natural law. They want a practical way to make copying hard enough to save their existing business. But they are doomed to fail." He described trying to make digital files uncopyable as like "trying to make water not wet". The creators of ''StarForce'' stated that "The purpose of copy protection is not making the game uncrackable – it is impossible." Bill Gates spoke about DRM at 2006 CES, saying that DRM causes problems for legitimate consumers. The Norwegian consumer rights organization "Forbrukerrådet" complained to Apple in 2007 about the company's use of DRM, accusing it of unlawfully restricting users' access to their music and videos, and of using EULAs that conflict with Norwegian consumer legislation. The complaint was supported by consumers'
ombudsmen An ombudsman (, also ,), ombud, ombuds, ombudswoman, ombudsperson or public advocate is an official who is usually appointed by the government or by parliament (usually with a significant degree of independence) to investigate complaints and at ...
in Sweden and Denmark, and was reviewed in the EU in 2014. The United States
Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. The FTC shares jurisdiction ov ...
held hearings in March 2009, to review disclosure of DRM limitations to customers' use of media products. Valve president Gabe Newell stated, "most DRM strategies are just dumb" because they only decrease the value of a game in the consumer's eyes. Newell suggested that the goal should instead be " reatinggreater value for customers through service value". Valve operates
Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
, an online store for
PC game A personal computer game, also known as a PC game or computer game, is a type of video game played on a personal computer (PC) rather than a video game console or arcade machine. Its defining characteristics include: more diverse and user-deter ...
s, as well as a
social networking service A social networking service or SNS (sometimes called a social networking site) is an online platform which people use to build social networks or social relationships with other people who share similar personal or career content, interests, act ...
and a DRM platform. At the 2012 Game Developers Conference, the CEO of CD Projekt Red, Marcin Iwinski, announced that the company would not use DRM. Iwinski stated of DRM, "It's just over-complicating things...the game....is cracked in two hours." Iwinski added "DRM does not protect your game. If there are examples that it does, then people maybe should consider it, but then there are complications with legit users." The
Association for Computing Machinery The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is a US-based international learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 and is the world's largest scientific and educational computing society. The ACM is a non-profit professional member ...
and the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...
opposed DRM, naming
AACS AACS may refer to: * Advanced Access Content System, a standard for content distribution and digital rights management ** AACS encryption key controversy * American Association of Christian Schools, an organization that unifies individual Christi ...
as a technology "most likely to fail" in an issue of IEEE Spectrum.


Public licenses

The GNU General Public License version 3, as released by the Free Software Foundation, has a provision that "strips" DRM of its legal value, so people can break the DRM on GPL software without breaking laws such as the DMCA. In May 2006, FSF launched a " Defective by Design" campaign against DRM.
Creative Commons Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has release ...
provides licensing options that encourage creators to work without the use of DRM. Creative Commons licenses have anti-DRM clauses, making the use of DRM by a licensee a breach of the licenses' Baseline Rights.


DRM-free works

Many publishers and artists label their works "DRM-free". Major companies that have done so include Apple, Comixology,
GOG.com GOG.com (formerly Good Old Games) is a digital distribution platform for video games and films. It is operated by GOG sp. z o.o., a wholly owned subsidiary of CD Projekt based in Warsaw, Poland. GOG.com delivers DRM-free video games through its ...
, Tor Books and
Vimeo on Demand Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software as ...
.


Shortcomings


Availability

Many DRM systems require online authentication. Whenever the server goes down, or a territory experiences an Internet outage, it locks out people from registering or using the material. This is especially true for products that require a persistent online connection, where, for example, a successful
DDoS attack In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyber-attack A cyberattack is any offensive maneuver that targets computer information systems, computer networks, infrastructures, or personal computer devices. An attacker is a p ...
on the server essentially makes the material unusable.


Usability

Compact discs (CDs) with DRM schemes are not standards-compliant, and are labeled
CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...
s. CD-ROMs cannot be played on all CD players or personal computers.


Performance

Certain DRM systems have been associated with reduced performance: some games implementing Denuvo Anti-Tamper performed better without DRM. However, in March 2018, '' PC Gamer'' tested '' Final Fantasy XV'' for the performance effects of
Denuvo Denuvo Anti-Tamper is an anti-tamper technology and digital rights management (DRM) system developed by Austrian software company Denuvo Software Solutions GmbH, a subsidiary of Irdeto. The company also developed an anti-cheat counterpart. Hi ...
, which was found to cause no negative gameplay impact despite a little increase in loading time.


Robustness

DRM copy-prevention schemes can never be wholly secure since the logic needed to decrypt the content is present either in software or hardware and implicitly can be hacked. An attacker can extract this information, decrypt and copy the content, bypassing the DRM. Satellite and cable systems distribute their content widely and rely on hardware DRM systems. Such systems can be hacked by reverse engineering the protection scheme.


Analog hole

Audio and visual material (excluding interactive materials, ''e.g.'', video games) are subject to the analog hole, namely that in order to view the material, the digital signal must be turned into an analog signal. Post-conversion, the material can be then be copied and reconverted to a digital format. The analog hole cannot be filled without externally imposed restrictions, such as legal regulations, because the vulnerability is inherent to all analog presentation. The conversion from digital to analog and back reduces recording quality. The
HDCP High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) is a form of digital copy protection developed by Intel Corporation to prevent copying of digital audio and video content as it travels across connections. Types of connections include DisplayPort ...
attempt to plug the analog hole was largely ineffective.


Consumer rights


Ownership restrictions

DRM opponents argue that it violates
private property Private property is a legal designation for the ownership of property by non-governmental legal entities. Private property is distinguishable from public property and personal property, which is owned by a state entity, and from collective or ...
rights and restricts a range of normal and legal user activities. A DRM component such as that found on a digital audio player restricts how it acts with regard to certain content, overriding user's wishes (for example, preventing the user from copying a copyrighted song to CD as part of a compilation). Doctorow described this as "the right to make up your own copyright laws". Windows Vista disabled or degraded content play that used a Protected Media Path. DRM restricts the right to make personal copies, provisions lend copies to friends, provisions for service discontinuance, hardware agnosticism, software and operating system agnosticism, lending library use, customer protections against contract amendments by the publisher, and whether content can pass to the owner's heirs.


Obsolescence

When standards and formats change, DRM-restricted content may become obsolete. When a company undergoes business changes or bankruptcy, its previous services may become unavailable. Examples include MSN Music, Yahoo! Music Store, Adobe Content Server 3 for Adobe PDF, and Acetrax Video on Demand.


Piracy

DRM laws are widely flouted: according to Australia Official Music Chart Survey, copyright infringements from all causes are practised by millions of people. According to the EFF, "in an effort to attract customers, these music services try to obscure the restrictions they impose on you with clever marketing."


Economic implication


Trade-offs between control and sales

Jeff Raikes, ex-president of the Microsoft Business Division, stated: "If they're going to pirate somebody, we want it to be us rather than somebody else". An analogous argument was made in an early paper by Kathleen Conner and Richard Rummelt. A subsequent study of digital rights management for e-books by Gal Oestreicher-Singer and
Arun Sundararajan Arun Sundararajan (Tamil language, Tamil: அருண் சுந்தர்ராஜன்) (born in the United Kingdom) is the NEC Faculty Fellow, Professor of Technology, Operations, and Statistics and a Doctoral Coordinator at the St ...
showed that relaxing some forms of DRM can be beneficial to rights holders because the losses from piracy are outweighed by the increase in value to legal buyers. Even if DRM were unbreakable, pirates still might not be willing to purchase, so sales might not increase. Piracy can be beneficial to some content providers by increase consumer awareness, spreading and popularizing content. This can also increase revenues via other media, such as live performances. Mathematical models suggest that DRM schemes can fail to do their job on multiple levels. The biggest failure is that the burden that DRM poses on a legitimate customer reduces the customer's willingness to buy. An ideal DRM would not inconvenience legal buyers. The mathematical models are strictly applicable to the music industry.


Alternatives

Several business models offer DRM alternatives.Committee on Intellectual Property Rights in the Emerging Information Infrastructure, National Research Council. (2000) "The Digital Dilemma: Intellectual Property in the Information Age." 3 May 2011. http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=9601#toc


Subscription

Streaming services have created profitable business models by signing users to monthly subscriptions in return for unlimited content. This model has worked for music (such as Spotify, Apple Music, etc.) and video (such as Netflix, Disney+,
Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...
, etc.)


"Easy and cheap"

Accessing pirated copy can be illegal and possibly inconvenient. Businesses that charge acceptable fees can attract customers. The first business model that dissuades illegal file sharing is to make legal content downloading easy and cheap. Pirate websites are often host to
malware Malware (a portmanteau for ''malicious software'') is any software intentionally designed to cause disruption to a computer, server, client, or computer network, leak private information, gain unauthorized access to information or systems, depri ...
which attach themselves to the files. If content is provided on legitimate sites and is reasonably priced, consumers are more likely to purchase media legally.


Crowdfunding or pre-order

Crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...
has been used as a publishing model for digital content.


Promotion for traditional products

Many artists give away individual tracks to create awareness for a subsequent album.


Artistic Freedom Voucher

The Artistic Freedom Voucher (AFV) introduced by Dean Baker is a way for consumers to support "creative and artistic work". In this system, each consumer receives a refundable tax credit of $100 to give to any artist of creative work. To restrict fraud, the artists must register with the government. The voucher prohibits any artist that receives the benefits from copyrighting their material for a certain length of time. Consumers would be allowed to obtain music for a certain amount of time easily and the consumer would decide which artists receive the $100. The money can either be given to one artist or to many, the distribution is up to the consumer.Baker, Dean. (2003). "The Artistic Freedom Voucher: An Internet Age Alternative to Copyrights." Pg. 2–8. Web. 3 May. 2011. http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/ip_2003_11.pdf


See also

*
3D printed firearm A 3D printed firearm is a firearm that is primarily produced with a 3D printer. They can be classified by the type of 3D printers used: plastic (desktop fused filament fabrication), metal (industrial selective laser melting), or both. While pla ...
*
Anti-tamper software Anti-tamper software is software which makes it harder for an attacker to modify it. The measures involved can be passive such as obfuscation to make reverse engineering difficult or active tamper-detection techniques which aim to make a program ...
*
Closed platform A closed platform, walled garden, or closed ecosystem is a software system wherein the carrier or service provider has control over applications, content, and/or media, and restricts convenient access to non-approved applicants or content. This ...
* Digital asset management *
Hardware restrictions A hardware restriction (sometimes called hardware DRM) is low-level protection enforced by electronic components. The hardware restriction scheme may protect against physical or malware attacks or complement a digital rights management system imp ...
*
License manager A software license manager is a software management tool used by Independent software vendors or by end-user organizations to control where and how software products are able to run. License managers protect software vendors from losses due to ...
*
ODRL The Open Digital Rights Language (''ODRL'') is a policy expression language that provides a flexible and interoperable information model, vocabulary, and encoding mechanisms for representing statements about the usage of content and services. ODRL ...
*
Software metering Software metering refers to several areas: *Tracking and maintaining software licenses. One needs to make sure that only the allowed number of licenses are in use, and at the same time, that there are enough licenses for everyone using it. This c ...
*
Software protection dongle A software protection dongle (commonly known as a dongle or key) is an electronic copy protection and content protection device. When connected to a computer or other electronics, they unlock software functionality or decode content. The hardware ...
*
Secure Digital Music Initiative Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) was a forum formed in late 1998,Leonardo ChiariglioneRiding the Media Bits. Opening content protection chiariglione.org, 2003 composed of more than 200 IT, consumer electronics, security technology, ISP and re ...
* Trusted Computing


References


Further reading

* Lawrence Lessig's '' Free Culture'', published by
Basic Books Basic Books is a book publisher founded in 1950 and located in New York, now an imprint of Hachette Book Group. It publishes books in the fields of psychology, philosophy, economics, science, politics, sociology, current affairs, and history. H ...
in 2004, is available fo
free download in PDF format
. The book is a legal and social history of copyright. Lessig is well known, in part, for arguing landmark cases on copyright law. A Professor of Law at
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
, Lessig writes for an educated lay audience, including for non-lawyers. He is, for the most part, an opponent of DRM technologies. * Rosenblatt, B. et al., ''Digital Rights Management: Business and Technology'', published by M&T Books ( John Wiley & Sons) in 2001. An overview of DRM technology, business implications for content publishers, and relationship to U.S. copyright law.
Consumer's Guide to DRM
published in 10 languages (Czech, German, Greek, English, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Swedish), produced by th
INDICARE research and dialogue project
* Eberhard Becker,
Willms Buhse Willms Buhse (born 3 November 1970 in Langenhagen, Germany) is a German entrepreneur, author, speaker and consultant based in Hamburg. His work focuses on digital leadership and digital transformation, covering also the people-centric aspects o ...
, Dirk Günnewig, Niels Rump: ''Digital Rights Management – Technological, Economic, Legal and Political Aspects''. An 800-page compendium from 60 different authors on DRM. *
Arun Sundararajan Arun Sundararajan (Tamil language, Tamil: அருண் சுந்தர்ராஜன்) (born in the United Kingdom) is the NEC Faculty Fellow, Professor of Technology, Operations, and Statistics and a Doctoral Coordinator at the St ...
's uses the following digital rights conjecture, that "digital rights increases the incidence of digital piracy, and that managing digital rights therefore involves restricting the rights of usage that contribute to customer value" to show that creative pricing can be an effective substitute for excessively stringent DRM. * Fetscherin, M., ''Implications of Digital Rights Management on the Demand for Digital Content'', provides an excellent view on DRM from a consumers perspective. * ''
The Pig and the Box ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'', a book with colorful illustrations and having a coloring book version, by 'MCM'. It describes DRM in terms suited to kids, written in reaction to a Canadian entertainment industry copyright education initiative, aimed at children. * ''Present State and Emerging Scenarios of Digital Rights Management Systems'' – A paper by Marc Fetscherin which provides an overview of the various components of DRM, pro and cons and future outlook of how, where, when such systems might be used. *
DRM is Like Paying for Ice
' – Richard Menta article on MP3 Newswire discusses how DRM is implemented in ways to control consumers, but is undermining perceived product value in the process. *
A Semantic Web Approach to Digital Rights Management
' – PhD Thesis by Roberto García that tries to address DRM issues using Semantic Web technologies and methodologies. * Patricia Akester, "Technological Accommodation of Conflicts between Freedom of Expression and DRM: The First Empirical Assessment" available a
Technological Accommodation of Conflicts between Freedom of Expression and DRM: The First Empirical Assessment
(unveiling, through empirical lines of enquiry, (1) whether certain acts which are permitted by law are being adversely affected by the use of DRM and (2) whether technology can accommodate conflicts between freedom of expression and DRM).


External links


BBC News Technology
Q&A: What is DRM?
Copyright vs Community in the Age of Computer Networks
by Richard Stallman * from Microsoft
Microsoft Research DRM talk
by Cory Doctorow
iTunes, DRM and competition law
by Reckon LLP * from CEN/ISSS (European Committee for Standardization / Information Society Standardization System). Contains a range of possible definitions for DRM from various stakeholders. 30 September 2003

Article investigating the effects of DRM and piracy on the video game industry
DRM.info
Information about DRM by Chaos Computer Club, Defective by design,
Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. The foundation was formed on 10 July 1990 by John Gilmore, John Perry Barlow and Mitch Kapor to promote Internet ci ...
, Free Software Foundation Europe, and other organisations. {{Authority control Copyright law Cryptography law Television terminology