DRM - The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

Author: Titus Hoskins
Digital Rights Management or DRM is used to try and deter piracy of copyright content such as digital files. With the advent of the Internet, DRM has grown in importance as manufacturers, publishers and copyright holders scramble to control how people "install, listen to, view and duplicate digital files" in order to safeguard copyright property. As you can imagine, the stakes are enormous and such piracy, these publishers argue, will lead to lost profits and declining sales, as well as hinder the whole creative process and the quality of the media itself.

These stake holders believe only legitimate paying customers should have access to their media. However, many people feel this view is unfair and goes against their civil liberties. Basically, by having any artist or programmer decide how a file is used, means that you as a consumer doesn't really own the content even though you have purchased it. These are the two different views that are fueling the debate on DRM.

This debate over digital rights is far from new, since as far back as the early 20th century, people were arguing over player piano rolls! In more recent times, long before digital media was even invented, you had the same debate with audio tape and video tape recordings. However, now that the Internet has made the transfer of digital media easy and accessible anywhere; this debate has taken on a whole new significance. Mainly because the web has opened up the global mass-market, which has made copyright owners especially concerned and which prompted them to conceive of DRM.

What Exactly Is DRM & How Does It Work?

Digital Rights Management can take on many forms but usually it can be broken down into four separate stages:

Packaging - where encryption keys can be built into the software, music or movie files as part of your DRM system.

Distribution - when DRM-encrypted files are distributed to the customer, usually over web-server downloads, with CDs/DVDs or with encrypted email files.

License-Serving - this is the process where you have specialize servers to authenticate or give access to only legitimate users/customers of your DRM files.

License Acquisition - where only legitimate customers are given encryption keys to unlock the purchased files.

A real early example of DRM was CSS (Content Scrambling System) which was used to encode DVD movie files and prompting DVD makers to create only systems that didn't include certain features. Then in order to get the encryption key for CSS, the hardware manufacturer had to agree NOT to include features such as digital-out... in the process making copying any movie very difficult to do.

And Now For The Bad & Ugly

However, where there is a will, there is a way... Jon Lech Johansen, in 1999, created DeCSS to counteract CSS by bypassing any DRM restrictions. Opening up the whole debate again about downloading copyright digital material; while others argue this whole process is similar to taping off or recording your favorite TV program and passing it along to a friend.

In recent years, the whole discussion is continuing with the advent of HD-DVDs and Blu-ray discs. Likewise, another security system was created to hold any would-be pirates at bay, AACS which stands for Advance Access Content System was created by a Licensing Administration, consisting of some big brand name companies such as Disney, Microsoft, Intel, Panasonic, IBM, Warner Brothers, Toshiba and Sony. AACS is very similar to the previous CSS DRM system in that it also uses encryption keys to limit access to the HD discs. But it wasn't long before, just like the CCS system, process keys began appearing on the web, letting the before mentioned, would-be pirates access to AACS restricted content.

So far, ALL DRM systems that have been created can be bypassed and this will probably hold true for future DRM systems as well. However, there's one saving lifeline for all the companies involved, usually there is a loss of quality in many of these bypass methods. Since the main drawing card of buying a HD-DVD or Blu-ray disc in the first place is because of the superior visual quality that can be achieved; consumers may be turned off by pirated copies if it doesn't give them the quality image they're seeking.

Furthermore, because of all these bypass methods, the media industry is constantly looking for other DRM systems that can protect their property. No doubt, the debate over all these copyright issues will continue for a long time to come. And just as likely, you can be assured where there are oceans, there will be pirates and people who like pirates a whole lot.
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