Digital Identity

The DRM Battle

With those kinds of statistics, you'd think DRM would be a technology that everyone could love, but it has been at the heart of some of the most acrimonious debates of the digital age. The movie and recording industries are worried that electronic distribution of their works will result in violations of their copyrights and, as a result, diminish their bottom line.

This is a classical problem for digital rights management. The producers of the digital goods want to release them to people beyond their control and give them only specific rights (e.g., to listen to, but not copy, the music).

The problem is that the needs of the copyright holders are in direct conflict with the wants of their customers. Consumers of movies and songs want open access, open formats, and access to works no longer for sale in traditional distribution channels. Napster illustrated the powerful drivers in this market. People want to be able to share music and movies with others.

Needless to say, this is a complex issue. The reason for bringing it up here is that the battle over copying movies and music has colored many people's view of DRM and created an atmosphere where any discussion of DRM creates strong feelings. DRM might be the right technology for solving critical access-control problems for your organization's digital resources. Unfortunately, DRM has become synonymous with the battle over copyrighted music and movies. You can probably avoid the DRM battle and the emotions it engenders ...