DRM ties into my research of violent media or more particularly violent video games. Most all video games currently are shipped with some sort of DRM technology and thus have put most people on the fence of should DRM be allowed? A lot of people disagree with DRM and feel that it is only in place to soak up more money for the content provider and they are not even remotely wrong because this is exactly what is going on according to Hickson. Essentially companies that manufacture products with DRM could start infusing a way to control the amount of violent video games that are allowed to be played by making them all online and having some sort of verification system in place such as a guardians SSN to verify that someone is of age to play this game. DRM, to me, is an invasion of our rights as a consumer. Companies should not have the ability to limit the use of a media to only one particular product so that way consumers are forced to buy that product for multiple consoles just to play it elsewhere. In essence, I own the product, as in this case, and the story does not change per individual platform being played on. So if I own a game for say Playstation 3 and my friends own it for Xbox 360, I have to buy it for Xbox 360. That is unfair to me because I own the media already. However, the only way to be able to implement a way around that is through an always online type product in which case becomes subject to DRM. It is a double edged sword that no one really wants to cross.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
DRM ( Digital Rights Management) and the Public
What is DRM or Digital Rights Management? DRM is a technology designed to control access to, track and limit uses of digital media. What this means is that for example say you have a Blu-Ray that you have purchased but cannot load it your portable media player, that is DRM in effect. This type of technology is imbedded within the media itself. Corporations state that the reason why DRM is in place is to stop piracy and copyright infringement however a Google engineer states that DRM has nothing to do with piracy. Ian Hickson from Google states that DRM is not in place to stop unauthorized copying or piracy but is used as a tool for content providers power over playback device manufacturers, as distributors cannot legally distribute copyrighted material without permission from the content provider. What he means by this is referenced by the following example he gives, "Fox makes a movie and Apple purchases the rights to sell it on iTunes. Users then buy and download the film, but Fox wants you to purchase the movie again if you want to use it in a way that doesn't include an Apple device, such as use on an Android phone. With DRM, you cannot use it elsewhere — without DRM, the use of such content is not restricted." He goes on by stating that the movies that you trying to watch are probably available on file sharing sites and no one has been stopped for violating a copyright.
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