Punishment for piracy: the hard truth on DRM
By George Gardner
Digital Rights Management is not necessary for copyright holders to prevent unauthorized copies of their work; it is just a tool used to keep good people honest, and is, in fact, driving us to illegal methods. The fact remains that pirates can and will always be able to find a way around any copyright protection. So who’s getting punished here?
I would certainly be in full support of a system that worked; a system that would not prohibit media play on particular, external devices, or expire after a given length of time.
Given today’s computers, with the ease of ripping media files from a CD/DVD, combined with P2P networks and file sharing utilities have undoubtedly made copyrighted digital files widespread.
These freedoms that allow you to manage and transport your media do not come without a cost. The sad truth is, it is only the honest people who must pay for the actions of the dishonest. I believe it was the Free Software Foundation which cunningly suggested DRM to stand for Digital Restrictions Management, and that’s precisely what it is.
Copyright holders are restricting material that we purchase, while the ones who pirate copyrighted material – those who justify the use of DRM – will do so in any case. DRM is, in fact, driving genuinely honest people to illegal activities in an effort to get their media on portable devices. Sure, I bought the music online; but the minute I can’t transport it to my MP3 player, I’ll be on BitTorrent.
David Pakman, not the little yellow guy who runs from ghosts, rather the head of the online retailer, eMusic, claims the music industry will give up copyright protection on all digital music before years end. In Pakman’s world, we would be able to play any song on any digital music player. Sound like freedom? It most certainly is.
Pakman claims the potential revenue generated by legal online music downloading is being held back by DRM, stating, “The return rates on MP3 players are very high, and it is a very dispiriting moment for the consumer when they find out that not all songs are compatible. Consumers expect their digital music to perform at least like a CD, they expect that there is full interoperability; they never expected to have to learn about all these restrictions. I’m a big believer that DRM is holding music downloading back.”
David believes strongly enough that he continually refuses demands by major record labels to incorporate some form of DRM on eMusic; this has caused many record labels to prohibit licensing of their songs on eMusic, and Pakman is just fine with that.
Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, talks about the disadvantages of DRM, stating he would switch to DRM free music in a heartbeat if only the music labels would let him. Reach into your big pockets, Jobs, and tell me if iTunes and iPod made a stand, the music industry wouldn’t follow.
Jobs writes the piece, Thoughts on Music, and instantly the Internet praises him for the great guy he is. However, many seem to miss what DRM has done for Apple, the iPod, and iTunes.
Apple’s downloaded files come with restrictions on their use, enforced by FairPlay, Apple’s version of digital rights management. Of course, Apple’s format, AAC, combined with FairPlay-encoded files are not compatible with any music devices other than Apple’s media players. So go on, Jobs; tell us how iTunes has sold more than 2 billion songs exclusive to your media player, but don’t forget to thank DRM.
Canadian media download store, Puretracks, is setting a great example; they’ll be selling good old MP3 files without any DRM allowing you to do anything to the music you purchase. The site includes artists such as The Barenaked Ladies and Sarah McLachlan, and songs will be playable on devices they previously didn’t work on.
“There’s no religion here, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Different content owners and different artists have different perspectives on how they want to get their music into the marketplace,” Mr. Mitchell said. “We wouldn’t be offering this if we didn’t think it would grow our revenues. We’re going to help those label partners we’re working with sell more of their music; that’s the bottom line.”
DRM simply doesn’t work; consumers don’t want it, and pirates certainly would like to pull the plug; yet, despite the complaints from music stores who rely on Internet sales, major media labels can’t find it in themselves to admit it’s a failed system.
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February 22nd, 2007
George, I understand your sentiments, but at the end of the day, companies need to be able to protect their copyright, and DRM allows them to do that. Without some way of protecting their investment, these companies will go out of business, and then there will be nothing to protect.