Drm

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary 3

Introduction 4

DRM Evolution 5

Facilitation of DRM 7

DRM in Mucis Today 9

Future of DRM within the Music Industry___________________________________11

Conclusion 12

References 14

Executive Summary

In part to enforce copyright laws and part to protect the digital retail industry, and anyone whose livelihood depends on the sale of such, a new technology was created, Digital Rights Management. The noble intention of protecting the publisher has created controversy in recognizing the rights of the users who purchase digital products but remain limited or restricted with its use. Hackers were able to circumvent the first wave of DRM technology, requiring future generations of DRM to be place directly on the product.

By creating individual format requirements, corporations used DRM to become an economic warfare tool, rather than the protection it was said to provide. This discouraged many end users as their digital music could not work on all devices. DRM, initially developed with such intensity, creating a race for creation, is now viewed with such negativity by consumers that even the music industry is calling for the reduction of DRM laced music. The consumer, since discovering DRM is transparent in content but not in functionality, has an increased concern for Fair Use protection.

The online and retail outlets that provide digital music has been somewhat stuck in the middle of the battle between consumers and the corporate side of the music industry. Corporations responded by forming partnerships that offers DRM-free music

The issue of protecting the copyright and distribution of digital music has not gone away. By implementing the requirements outlined within the paper, it becomes clear that the future of DRM technologies for digital music lies within the concept of the watermark. Current DRM technology is not working, but the corner is being turned.

Introduction

Through the development of technologies associated to the personal computer and the internet, file sharing has become a popular method for gaining information. The ability to transform a physical item to a digital item has provided new means of efficient transportation. In today’s Technological Era, there are virtually no limits to what digital information can be exchanged.

The emergence of such technology has also yielded a means to circumvent laws that govern the physical market, such as copyright infringement. The ability to exchange information freely has created controversy in how to govern what is being shared. Because there is a means of production doesn’t always translate to a right to do so. The internet provides a method for information to be exchanged from one individual to another, but it should not empower an internet user to trample the rights of the original artist/creator.

A multitude of business models are effected by this sharing of information. Many music and entertainment industry leaders felt that the file sharing were cannibalizing their product sales and were not compensated for the distributed materials. Laws covering intellectual property seemed to lack authority beyond the physical limitations. In part to enforce copyright laws and part to protect the digital retail industry, and anyone whose livelihood depends on the sale of such, a new technology was created, Digital Rights Management.

The underlying principal to Digital Rights Management (DRM) is the programs ability to identify and protect the copyright laws of the creator. The universal definition for 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.”(wekipedia, 2008) There is a strong concern for protecting the rights of the artist, but as research shows, much of which comes at the elimination of rights for the end user.

Digital Rights Management Evolution

As a result of the lack of regulations surrounding digital rights, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was put into effect on May 14, 1998. The DMCA provided an enforceable set of rules related to the copyright protection of digital creation. The Act cites that the distribution and recreation of published work is protected, but also provided a provision for Fair Use. The noble intention of protecting the publisher has created controversy in recognizing the rights of the users who purchase digital products but remain limited or restricted with its use. Nonetheless, the DMCA empowered corporations to create a technology that would monitor and ensure copyright protection was provided.

The first software packages created for DRM provided a means for the publisher to issue a license for each product made available over the internet, that license to follow the product with each exchange of users, and the ability to charge the user for distribution as the publisher saw fit. The creation was thought to solve the “Napster problem” of the internet; one in which music files were being “ripped” and distributed through peer-to-peer sharing providers.

Thus entered the smart cow problem (it only takes one smart cow to unlatch the gate; the others will follow out the door). Hackers were able to circumvent the first wave of DRM technology. “Many of the вЂ?industry standard’ solutions failed to recognize the real management issue of cryptography and therefore failed to provide the protection they seemed to claim.”(Locklizard, 2007). One popular method to avoid the DRM became known as the “shift method”. By holding the shift key down while inserting a CD into the computer drive, the user was able to bypass the DRM detection.

The next wave of DRM was installed on the product itself. First revealed in 2002 by Bertelsmann (parent company to BMG, RCA, and Arista), DRM was produced on CD-rom media. By placing the content on a CD-Rom and not a CD, the manufacturer restricted the use of the product to CD players and did not allow the use on computers. Going a step further, Sony developed a similar technology for its products, but actually put