Is DRM Doomed to Failure?

Group 7: Matt Kearns, Chris Keddy, Robert (!Scott) Keohane, Kyle Warren

Is DRM Doomed to Failure? - CST8299 Group Discussion

Matt:
What is DRM? (Brief introduction)

Chris:
Amazons UNbox issues

Kyle:
Depth of DRM embedding in Windows

!Scott:
DRMs Chilling Effects

Matt (again, sorry)

Foundational legal and ethical issues of DRM, and the digital dark age.

DRM in brief
404: joke not found.

DRM What is it?

Digital rights management (DRM) is an access control methodology that is employed by hardware manufacturers, publishers and copyright holders with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after their initial sale.

Reference: http://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/digital-rights-management

What does this mean?

In order to legally use content that was legally purchased, consumers must follow the copyright-holders End User Licensing Agreements (EULA), no matter how restrictive or unusable. This also effectively binds purchases of content and devices to a single person or entity without possibility of resale.

Although digital content is protected by copyright laws, policing the Web and catching law-breakers is very difficult. DRM technology focuses on making it impossible to steal content in the first place, a more efficient approach to the problem than the hit-and-miss strategies aimed at apprehending online poachers after the fact.

Quote: http://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/digital-rights-management

Amazon Unbox: Issues? What issues?

Chris Keddy

Amazon UNbox
What is Amazon unbox? What is their digital rights management system? Why did some people have a problem? Some information on the Terms of Use.

Windows DRM: Protecting you from yourself.

Kyle Warren

Image Credit: http://images.videolan.org/images/goodies/Cone-Video-large.png

Windows DRM
DRM is built into Microsofts operating systems Media Sharing: 2 requisites. Force all devices to use DRM scheme: Protected Media Path Prevent monitoring of playback from outside programs Microsoft not the only DRM-enabled Operating system. Apples OSX is fully DRM compliant. iTunes is notable exception (Music only). Some software ignores DRM altogether, VLC and DivX most notably. Other Software cannot interpret DRM protected content, like XBMC.

Source: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa376846(v=vs.85).aspx

Problems with DRM on Microsoft

Changing hardware (ie. processor, etc.) may affect ability to play drm protected content due to watermarking. Trying to use Windows media Player to playback DRM protected media cant play results in an error message (a value in the registry was changed) Example: Being locked out of your own Office document Dec. 2009

Reference: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091214/0005017331.shtml

The Chilling Effects of DRM

Robert (!Scott) Keohane

Image credit: http://xkcd.com/129/

DRMs Chilling Effects

EFFECT #1: DIFFERING NATIONAL LAWS
United States vs. ElcomSoft & Dmitry Sklyarov Charged with violating US Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA), 1998 Adobe dropped suit, but US Dept. of Justice (US DOJ) pursued charges Federal charges against Sklyarov were dropped in exchange for Testimony against ElcomSoft.

Jury ruled in favour of the defendant, ElcomSoft found not guilty.

Case raises concerns: prosecution for activities that are legal in other countries.

DRMs Chilling Effects

ISSUE #2: ACADEMIC AND LEGITIMATE RESEARCH UNCERTAINTY
Edward Felten and Princeton University accepted watermark challenge from Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) Chose to opt out of Non-Disclosure Agreement, exempted from Cash Prize. Planned to publish findings. SDMI, Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Verance

Corp. threatened legal action if Felten/Princeton published findings.

Felten and Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) sued both groups, suit was dismissed. USDOJ assured Felten DMCA does not apply to Academic work and legal issues are moot.

DRMs Chilling Effects

ISSUE #3: DMCA THREATS CREATE A CHILLING EFFECT IN ACADEMIA
Niels Furguson managed to break Intels High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) scheme. Has stated that he is afraid to publish the research information as suit is possible through both Intel and Motion Picture Association of America

(MPAA) , and US DOJ may pursue arrest if he visits the US.

Differing laws in US/Netherlands, and United Nations. Inability to publish findings actually harms MPAA/Intel, stifles innovation. Other foreign researchers afraid to legitimately publish findings. Technical conference hosts now considering going off-shore due to legal risks/threats.

Foundational & Legal Issues

Matt Kearns
(would SO download a bear)

DRM Foundational Issues

DRM often at odds with fair-use and public domain rights. Do the rights of the many (public at large) out-weigh the rights of the few (content creators/copyright holders)? DRM often does not work as planned, or at all. Costs large companies large sums of money and is generally ineffective. DRM policies favour have societies, and generally hamper have-not societies. Stifles innovation by discouraging openness. Stifles profit by barring legitimate consumers from enjoying a product as they wish (sometimes directly contravening fair-use laws), and does nothing to functionally suppress piracy.

DRM Legal Issues

No single, unifying Intellectual Property law respected worldwide. DRM that is acceptable in one country may not be legally enforceable elsewhere
In order to protect DRM, governments around the world have enacted "anticircumvention" legal regimes that ban the sale, manufacture and dissemination of tools that can be used to break DRM locks. Unlike real security systems, such as those used to keep encrypted email and Web-sessions private, DRM systems are not "self-protecting." Without state sanctions on those who publish their workings, DRM systems are useless. -- Electronic Freedom Foundation

Quote Source: https://www.eff.org/wp/digital-rights-management-failure-developed-world-danger-developing-world

The Digital Dark-Age?

Within this hyperbolic environment of technology euphoria, there is a constant, albeit weaker, call among information professionals for a more sustained thinking about the impacts of the new technologies on society. One of these impacts is how we are to preserve the historic record in an electronic era where change and speed is valued more highly that conservation and longevity.

As we move into the electronic era of digital objects, it is important to know that there are new barbarians at the gate and that we are moving into an era where much of what we know today, much of what is coded and written electronically, will be lost forever. -- Terry Kuny

Quote: http://archive.ifla.org/IV/ifla63/63kuny1.pdf

The Digital Dark-Age?

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
Application of DRM in a wholesale manner guarantees that the information locked behind it will eventually be lost due to shifts in technology. Most implementations of DRM do not have an automatic expiry/ decryption date, and due to legislation that forbids the use of DRM breaking technology, the information might never be legally allowed into the public domain. The cure for this is to adopt open standards, and make information publicly accessible. Examples: The Internet Archive, Microsoft & US Archives open format migration project United Kingdom National Archives open-source projects

Source: http://archive.ifla.org/IV/ifla63/63kuny1.pdf

In Closing
DRM doesnt stop piracy, but Kim Dotcom might have an idea how.

Thanks for your time,

Any Questions for discussion? Other than where you can get your own DRM undies?