Guide Note

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. All widely-used DRM techniques have been circumvented when the technology is put into enough products.

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

DRM can be found on almost all different types of media, such as films, audio cd's 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.

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.

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 Filesharing program or website.