What is DRM? What does it do? Where did it come from and WHY?

Funny you should ask! I recently investigated this subject in conjunction with a project at my job.

Actually, DRM is Digital Rights Management.

This is a technology deployed to address access to and handling of digital data. This data may be in any form; documents, music, images, etc...

For instance, used in Email, it can control to whom items and/or attachments may be transmitted to, whether it may be copied, whether it may be forwarded, who it may be forwarded to, if it can be printed, etc...

Check out this link (below) to Authentica, one of the leaders in this arena.

DRM originated in reponse to a demand to counter industrial/corporate espionage, but has found a niche within the government/defense industry with the recent emphasis on national security.

Some of Authentica's biggest clients are; the FBI, DIA, DOD, DOJ, etc...

Of course this technology is most controversially employed within the realm of digital music, where heated debate revolves around its application.

DRM stands for document rights management. The idea is that if you download a file (like an mp3 or electronic book) the publisher of that file has specific rules about what you are allowed to do with that file. For example, if you rent a movie from movielink.com, you can watch it for 24 hours unless you pay to renew it, and it deletes from your hard drive after a month. For songs you've downloaded from iTunes, you can share them among 5 computers, and burn a playlist up to 5 times. The whole idea is that there are rules for what you can and can't do with the stuff that you pay for.

Companies like DRM because it allows them to keep their current business models and still deliver content through the internet. For example, movie companies don't want you to legally download movies that are still in the theater because each person pays $10 for a ticket, instead of $3 for a rental. Also movie companies and book publishers are very scared to offer digital content for you to get legally, because they saw what happened with music and filesharing. Once you have one person who buys the content and then starts sharing it nobody will pay for it anymore.

Many consumers are very upset about DRM because it means that they are not free to use something that they have bought however they want to. For example, if you buy a CD you can pass it around to your friends as often as you want, but if you download a song from iTunes only 5 computers can play it.

What:

DRM: Denial of Rights Module.

What does it do:

This is a software technique designed to deny your rights of fair use to make copies of music and movies you bought for your own use.

Why:

Historically, courts have ruled that if you bought a CD, tape or other vynl, you could copy it onto other stuff ( for example to listen to at home, in your car and on a portable player). This is called "fair use".

For the last several decades, the big media companies have trying to prevent your fair use - they would make more money if you had to buy 3 copies of everything. Since the law is not on their side, they have instituted technological measures (some supported by the DMCA) to lock down the product.

They have also instituted "region DRM" which prevent a European from watching a DVD or listening ot a CD purchased outside of Europe (or a North American from using European or Asian DVDs and CDs). Through their efforts, and significant cross-ownership of both media conglomerates and equipment manufacturers (such as Sony), the DVD and CD players you buy support - in hardware - your fair use of products purchased elsewhere in the world.

The next steps are in motion - time limited media and pay-per-play.