DRM is like someone instructing me what I do with my own money!

The DRM debate resumed again at the Embedded System conference and it appears that the arguments this time were quite heated. Imagine Hollywood studio representatives taking on attorneys. For more on that refer to this link.

One of the interesting analogies came from Dean Garfield, executive VP and chief strategy officer for the Motion Picture Association of America. Garfield related the DRM techniques adopted by Hollywood to security barriers faced by bank customers using ATMs. These customers gladly accept the necessity of password to get their own money which is similar to the DVD buyers accepting constraints such as water marks and copy restrictions placed on the media they purchase. He referred to them as business rules and not actually the technology. So it’s the business rules that irritate and anger both consumers and IP attorneys. In response to this comment Fred von Lohmann, senior IP attorney for the Electronic Frontier Association responded “Of course they don’t mind the password at the ATM. What I would mind is a set of restrictions on what I can do with my money after I’ve received it from the bank”. He said that such constraints are the essence of DRM.

Jim Barton, CTO and senior VP of R&D for TiVo talked about closing the gap between what the consumers want and the business rules required by the content creators.

Picking up from this thread, we would like to start an article series on DRM & related technologies. We will start with a primer on CPRM and Abhishek happily has taken up the challenge to do that for us.