PC Help Request

Q: What is DRM?

Digital Rights Management (DRM) is a method used by companies to protect their copyrighted works. It’s very controversial and in some cases, such as Sony music CDs, has cause damage to people’s computer. The premise, as established by the RIAA and MPAA, is that every consumer will probably try to share the music, movie, or TV show on the internet or otherwise. It might be as simple as a text based unlocking key and it might be as complex as encrypted media. There are many types of DRM, but it all wears the same hat.Computer games have been using a form of DRM for a very long time. The earliest use of CD-Keys that I can remember is Starcraft, which was released back in 1997. All that was required to play the game was a valid CD-Key to unlock the game. This has evolved a bit since then. CD-Keys in certain games will generate an ID number that is checked against a server. A valid CD-key may be prevented from using the multiplayer portion of the game if the CD-Key has been banned. There are also additional elements that have taken hold to try and prevent pirates from burning CD copies or sharing them over p2p networks.

Since the Napster time period of the late 90’s, the music and movie industries (RIAA and MPAA respectively), have begun using DRM in a variety of ways. Every year there seems to be a new sort of DRM released, so I won’t focus so much on the method. With the increased levels of music and movie sharing, the industries has tried to combat this by limiting certain behaviors with the media or banning it altogether. For example, after downloading a song, you may not be allowed to burn CDs containing that song. The DRM disallows it from being burned. There are software checks that enforce this so it’s fairly difficult to get around. The legalities of beating DRM are still being hashed out in court. The fight is on-going and no winner has yet emerged.

Sony Music has just settled a class action lawsuit in regards to its DRM enforcement techniques. Sony has admitted that CDs, when played on a computer, installed software that was impossible to remove and damaging to the computer. The software installed itself secretly, slowed down the computer, and opened security vulnerabilities. It was installed even if you rejected the license agreement and did not provide a way to be uninstalled. It also sent music listening habits to Sony BMG. If you feel you might have been affected, follow the above link to get some definitive answers.