Seif+Abboud

Seif Abboud
 * The Treacherous Path of DRM**

With technology at the point it is today, nearly anything is possible. Futuristic visions from the eighties, such as video-conferencing, cars with built in computers, and concepts that would’ve been alien to that generation are all now within reality. Unfortunately, with the advent of instant communication, self-parking cars, and internet-connected light-switches, it seems even more nefarious deeds, such as stealing, have become much more readily available thanks to common household technology. More specifically, this next-generation theft is not theft in the traditional shoplifting sense, but more along the lines of elicit software and media use, illicit media reproduction, and circumventing copyright protection. This affects almost no other medium as wholly as much as the music industry, with the average iPod, or portable music player having an average of eight hundred dollars worth of pirated music. (Sabbagh) Just as every new modern technology has it’s own new jargon and lingo, this modern form, and currently most popular form of theft, is called piracy, with its’ advocates and participants being referred to as pirates. As a result of rampant theft, often being enabled by the sheer amount of technology enabled to us, media companies have scrambled left, right, and center over the past two decades, attempting to prevent circumvention of their intellectual properties. They have used and invented many new types of copy-protection schemes in hopes of limiting piracy, often utilizing tools referred to as “Digital Rights Management”. While the utilization of these tools is undoubtedly controversial, their actual effectiveness is highly debatable. Digital Rights Management, while may not appear to be a familiar term to everyone, is currently in nearly every single technology available to us. . It is prevalent in everything from music, movies, software; even the copy of Microsoft Office that this is being written upon is protected by DRM, yet you might not have heard of it. This is because DRM attempts to remain as invisible and unobtrusive as possible in order to remain effective, the active word being “attempts”. One of the best examples of how transparent DRM is the iTunes online music and video store. While nearly anyone has common access to a computer that is networked and able to play music has most likely had interaction with this software, very few people know that until recently, iTunes was one of the biggest enforcers of DRM-laden product in the world (Diaz).

What most consumers aren’t aware of when they are first purchasing product from the iTunes music store is that the music that they just purchased rights to listen to is in fact actually limited. The type of DRM apple uses in the iTunes Music Store means that instead of the industry-accepted .mp3 format, the less popular, and less supported AAC+ variant of the .MP4 standard is used instead. As a result, this means that the music that customers outright paid to be able to listen to on devices of their choice are automatically limited on the devices they are able to play them onto, disabling the music from being played on popular consumer electronics such as Xbox 360’s, Blackberrys, and regular non-iPod MP3 players. If this was not hindrance enough, the files are encoded with user-specific information, such as names and email addresses of the purchaser within the file itself, and are limited playback to a maximum of five “authorized” computers, and limiting the amount of times that the files can be burnt to a C.D.

Compare and contrast the purchasing of DRM-infested music files to a regular music CD, which can be played virtually in every piece of hardware that is capable of supporting it. Taking the comparison further, take a piece of music purchased through the iTunes music store with it’s DRM protection, and compare this to a piece of music illegally downloaded through alternative (pirated) means throughout the internet. Not only will the music often be completely free of any limitations, enabling you to play it on any piece of hardware you own, but it will often come in a higher bit rate (better file quality) than it’s iTunes counterpart, and it will become very easy to see why piracy is very popular.

Despite of it’s hindrances, DRM remains highly popular with all the major online music retailers, such as Sony’s Connect Music store, the Napster music store, and the Wal-Mart music store, as music corporations are pertinent on having usage restrictions on legally purchased music, whereas illegally downloaded music allows people to properly enjoy music files that they have obtained. So in essence, DRM essentially ensures that paying customers have to put up with stringent file regulations, whereas people who simply do not wish to legally obtain the media can do so with ease, and not have to put up with artificial limits. This is not to say that DRM doesn’t have any benefits whatsoever. Despite not having any clear evidence to support such, DRM does at least limit the technically illiterate person from downloading a song from a music store and then proceeding to email it to every single one of his or her friends. It is unclear however how effective this protection actually is, since it is somewhat difficult to measure the amount of music purchased as opposed to music pirated while determining which number has had an effect on which. It is still unclear whether such Draconian protection is worth the bad press of DRM, especially considering DRM can be stripped easily by anyone capable of using a computer and readily available software that is just as easy to use as a music program itself.

It is important to elaborate on an industry leader’s recent shift from the highly criticized DRM-enabled music files to open media files. Apple, the owner and operator of iTunes, the world’s most popular online music store (Diaz) recently announced at their final annual Macworld Mac conference that they would be releasing the entire iTunes music library catalog for sale, devoid of DRM altogether. While the files themselves would be devoid of any copyright technology that would disable them from playing on unauthorized machines, they are still embedded with the username’s information. While this is not seen as DRM, it is still a form of discouraging file sharing (Frith). Since this is such an extremely recent occurrence, it will not be clear for some time whether this action will lead others in the industry to follow example, and begin to seek less obstructive forms of copy-protection that will protect intellectual property without inconveniencing paying customers in the process.

As you can see, copyright infringement is a very touchy subject that affects a lot of people directly, especially within the volatile music industry. While it is indisputable that some sort of protection is vital to enforcing and protecting the intellectual properties of others, it is very debatable whether digital rights management systems such as the ones that have been put into place both in the past and the present are the right way of going about it. While it is clear that DRM does fulfill its basic requirements, it is important to analyze and consider whether it also works too well. It’s very possible that DRM is hindering it’s consumers from enjoying the media the purchase, and perhaps alienating them from purchasing content in favor of illegally obtaining it for mere convenience purposes. As a result, it is important to find a means of DRM that is effective, while keeping in mind the rights of the consumer first and foremost.

Sabbagh, Dan. “Average Teenager’s iPod has 800 illegal music tracks.” //Timesonline.co.uk//. June 16, 2008. February 3, 2008. < http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/personal_tech/article4144585.ece >. Frith, David. “Privacy Problems for iTunes Plus.” //Australianit.news.com.au//. June 12, 2007. February 3, 2008. < http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,21874643-39525,00.html >. Diaz, Jesus. “iTunes gets DRM free, New Prices, Purchase over 3g.” //www.gizmodo.com//. January 6, 2009. February 3, 2008. .