Digital Rights Management - Research Paper Example

Digital Rights Management The advanced technologies that has been created to adapt to the fast-paced and changing world of today has brought about various systems that has been used to the advantage and disadvantage of different sectors and industries depending on how it is being used. With the instant access to information and other materials through the internet, the content owner’s rights are jeopardized. Since anyone can access almost everything through the internet, and even blocked sites can be hacked and accessed, there is a question in protecting the rights of the owners. There are many issues in using systems and technologies that prevents access to different materials. The users and the owners are placed in the middle of the issues about this technology. Owners want to protect their rights as owners of the materials being accessed and reproduced. Users want to protect their rights as users being able to freely access information and use materials as they wish for their own pleasure and purposes. With all these issues taken into consideration, the Digital Rights Management systems were invented and used by industries to protect their rights and to allow users safe access to their technologies and digital content. Digital Rights Management refers to the access control technologies that can be used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals to enforce limitations on the use of digital devices and contents. It is the unauthorized use of the contents and devices. It also refers to the restrictions placed by companies on specific digital content and devices. Sony, Apple, Microsoft and BBC are some of the companies that use these devices to prevent unauthorized use of their devices and contents. The technologies of Digital Rights Management prevent unauthorized copying, duplication and access of the digital media. Before the internet, copyright owners and content producers already had business and legal objections against copying technologies. DRM enables secure distribution of the digital content and disables illegal distribution (Becker 2006). Copying technologies is considered as a disruptive technology in which it targets a new market that may overturn the existing market. It is a disruptive innovation that is both low-end and new-market. It aims to create a new market from the consumers that are not buying the products, herewith the digital content and devices, already in the market. It is also aimed at the consumer market more concerned with the price rather than the quality. Disruptive technology is a threat to the existing market since they are a competition that targets mainstream consumers, more concerned with the price of the product than the quality, and the consumers who aren’t able to or doesn’t use the products. There are a lot of piracy and ripping going on in the digital music and movie industry. With analog media, the quality of the copied material diminishes with each duplication. But in the digital media, the materials can be copied several times over without losing the quality of the digital content. With the use of the internet and file sharing devices, access and duplication of digital media content is possible. Not only is this possible for digital content for music, movies and television, it is also possible to access and duplicate information from literary resources. Digital piracy has become a big problem for the media today, both for print and non-print resources. With Digital Rights Management, different industries are able to minimize the growing problem of unwanted access and conversion materials. One example of a Digital Rights Management technology is the Content Scrambling System. The system requires device manufacturers to sign license agreements that restricted the inclusion of features in their players that could be used for extracting and copying the high quality films. This resulted to the minimized use of the DVD media on systems other than those capable of decoding the DVD media. Microsoft Windows Vista also has a DRM system called the Protected Media Path. It contains the Protected Video Path which stops DRM-restricted content from playing and from being duplicated. HD DVD and Blu-Ray Discs also have the Advanced Access Content System as a means to prevent unauthorized access and reproduction of their copies. Owners of the music, film producers and authors should have exclusive rights to their works. If it is their own, they automatically own the copyright to it. This includes the right to decide over its publication, distribution and adaptation. It is the intellectual property rights of the owners of the music, film and literature. With the advanced technology of the recent years, especially file-sharing and access to e-books, the copyright law has several challenges. The implementation of the 1996 World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty brought legal assistance to the Digital Rights Management. It is an international treaty on copyright law which provides additional protections for copyright necessary to keep up with the advanced technology. Computer programs are protected as literary works and the arrangement and selection of material in databases are protected. It provides authors control over the distribution of their works. It prohibits the circumvention of technological barriers that the rightholders do not wish to allow and unauthorized modification of the rights management information contained in the works. The Digital Millenium Copyright Act, an extension of the United States copyright law, criminalizes the production and dissemination of technology that allows the evasion of copy-restricted methods. Under this Act, the access to a work is deemed illegal if there is an intent of violating the rights of the copyright holders, such as illegal reproduction of the work. DRM satisfies the needs of the entertainment and media companies by preventing loss of money through piracy and establishing a way for people to pay up to access and/or distribute the content (Van Tassel 2006). It saves the company from losses and allows money to come in through access and distribution. For the literary world, DRM systems prevent unauthorized reproduction of literary works aside from preventing unauthorized access to the content. This way there is a control over the number of copies that may be printed, whether the file may be copied or not, the length of time the file may be accessed and whether the content may be “cut and pasted” (Braid 2005). DRM has many advantages for content owners, content users and providers. For content owners, it helps them prevent unauthorized access and illegal use of their works. Illegal copying or reproduction can fight piracy that could damage the reputation of the owner, as well as, damage their financial positions. Users can access DRM protected contents by acquiring valid licenses that can decrypt protected media files. Through this, the user is benefiting from it because they are assured of a protected file. At the same time, the owner is assured that the user accessed the content legally since there is a valid license purchased to open the media files. Content providers can also benefit from the DRM system. With DRM, the protection to the digital media files that can be copied and distributed are assured safe and with little or no problem at all in copying of the web content. With DRM, the content providers can come up with various business models designed to expand their online contents through subscription services. It makes direct distribution to end-users as a business model possible. Acquiring and renewing licenses can be sped up creating customer satisfaction and goodwill for the provider. The consumers can also benefit from the DRM technology. They can have secure content delivery and assured playback on the PC, networks and other portable devices. Despite the various advantages of the Digital Right Management systems, many individuals oppose the use of it. Oppositions insist that DRM system restricts the rights of the users to access digital content and to exercise fair use exceptions (Becker 2003). One disadvantage that oppositions see in using DRM systems is the restriction of content that puts jeopardy to free speech and free press rights. Backed up by law, owners of music, movies and other information can be locked up for years. This protection means that free access to information can be jeopardized. People would have to pay up just to view these materials for research and other informative purposes. Also, the legal protection brought by the DRM can reduce innovation and research in digital technologies. In research, there is a certain budgeting plan to impose the project to study a certain technology, material or event. If there is a need to pay licensed agreements and pay per view of the digital content, the research project should need a high budget which most of the research organizations cannot afford. Also, with the restriction to certain digital contents, there will be less information on how to improve the technology being restricted, thus, reducing innovation. The Digital Rights Management is a tool to protect information from being reproduced and distributed illegally. The main purpose of it is to minimize piracy and file-sharing. But since the users are affected by the restrictions placed on digital contents (that they need to have license agreements and other boundaries set on their usage of the digital content), the public is clamoring for its abolishment. The Digital Rights Management is still a young technology that needs more research on how it is going to be implemented. It is already backed up by laws and acts that criminalize evading the systems that prevents unauthorized use, access, reproduction and distribution of digital content. But still there are still ways on how to improve its function in our society so that the public can freely adapt to it and accept it. The Digital Rights Management has no intention of restricting and preventing access to digital content, its purpose is clear and clean. What should be done is a public awareness of its advantages and an innovation of the technology to prevent the disadvantages posed by the users. Works Cited Becker, Eberhard. (2003). Digital Rights Management: Technological, Economical, Legal and Political Aspects. Springer. Braid, Andrew. (2005). The Use of Digital Rights Management System for Document Supply. Libraries – A Voyage of Discovery. World Library and Information Congress: 71st IFLA General Conference and Council. http://www.ifla.org.sg/IV/ifla71/papers/096e-Braid.pdf Van Tassel, Joan. (2006). Digital Rights Management. Elsevier. Read More