• Digital Rights Management, more commonly known as DRM, is an access control technology used as an attempt to curb piracy. These technologies are designed to limit usage of digital content. However, the physical software that protects the media is the copy protection software.

  On April 7, 2009, the Apple iTunes Store began selling all songs without Digital Rights Management technology.Breitbart: Changes take effect in Apple's iTunes prices (April 7, 2009)

• Fast Facts

  1. Found on almost every electronic device
  2. Major contributors include: Sony, Microsoft, and Apple
  3. People argue that DRM punishes the wrong group of people
  4. Apple began selling songs from their iTunes Store without Digital Rights Management on April 7, 2009

• DRM Technologies

  DRM can be found on almost all different types of media, such as films, audio CDs and even video games. However, it is also in use on streaming music and music services such as Ruckus. These services prevent the user from doing a certain activity with the product they have purchased, such as burning the product to a disk or transferring it to another device.

• DRM Laws

  One of the main laws that is in favor of DRM is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This act makes it illegal to circumvent copy protection if the intent is to violate the rights of the copyright holders. In other words, if you break the copy protection and then distribute the software on the Internet, then this would be a violation of the DMCA. There are other laws that enforce this protection, but the DMCA is the major law.

• Controversy

  Since DRM restricts access to content, some people say that it prevents legitimate uses of the product because of the restrictions. Others argue that it does not stop software piracy, but instead just punishes the people that are abiding all the laws, because people with malicious intent could download the software from an illegal P2P File-sharing program or website.

• Related Mahalo Pages

  Electronic Frontier Foundation | Fair Use | Copyright | MPAA | DRM Free Downloads | Apple | Amazon | Wal-Mart | RealNetworks

Categories

Would you like to become this page's manager? Mahalo pages can make up to $50 a month.

 

What is this?

View Top Managers

• View History
• Discuss on the Message Board
• Embed this Page
• Share this page