Digital Rights Management (Essay Sample)

DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT
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Executive summary
Digital Rights Management (DRM) has become integrated into the contemporary society. The threats to digital content have compelled the need for restrictive measures to be implemented. Prior to the implementation of DRM, copyright laws had been deemed sufficient to address the perpetuation of piracy. However, the inadequacies of the provisions of the law necessitated the need for implementation of DRM. The creators of content are now able to be remunerated as a result of implementation of DRM. However, this approach limits the degree of fair use. In limiting the degree of interaction between the user and the product, content creators are impeding on the right to fair use. In the long run, the effectiveness of DRM is compromised given the limited interaction between users and the digital products.
Introduction
The term Digital Rights Management is used in reference to the systematic approach for protecting digital media. The afore-mentioned approach entails the use of copyrighting of media that needs to be protected. The technological advancements that have been made thus far have enhanced the susceptibility of digital media in the contemporary environment. Consumers now have the capability of illegally acquiring digital media that are protected. There has been a rise in the rate of piracy. Given such an alarming situation, it becomes critical for the relevant parties to ensure that digital media is accorded a higher degree of protection. Piracy negatively impacts the profits to be sourced from commercially marketed material.
DRM and music have become intertwined. Essentially, DRM has aided in amplifying the profitability of the music industry. Content creators can now be rewarded for their efforts in the production of the digital content. DRM works by limiting the degree to which the digital content can be reproduced. The sharing of music has then been curtailed by the advent of DRM. It is in limiting the illegal sharing of music that content creators stand the chance of being compensated for the work. Devoid of the implementation of DRM, the music industry had been adversely impacted by piracy and the perpetuation of the sharing culture. Such a situation then served to reduce the potential profitability of the industry.
The implementation of DRM has safeguarded the vitality of the music industry. Piracy and the perpetuation of the sharing culture has eroded the potential financial rewards to accrue from the sale of digital content. The reduced performance of the music industry could have massive impacts to the society. Therefore, it is critical to ensure that the industry is safeguarded. While DRM has had profound impacts on other industries that are dependent on digital content, the music industry is among those that have been profoundly impacted. In controlling the distribution of digital content, the industry’s profitability has been significantly enhanced. DRM serves to ensure that the digital content cannot be transferred to other forms of digital storage. Therefore, its use is limited to its original form.
The implementation of DRM in the music industry has not been without its drawbacks. While the intent of DRM is to limit the illegal distribution of the digital content, there are various avenues via which unscrupulous individuals can gain access to the content. There are various loopholes that enable unscrupulous agents to gain access to digital content. The limited forms of interaction between a user and the digital content have created room for the perpetuation of illegal means of gaining access to the digital content. It is then to the best interest of the industry to ensure that greater freedoms are availed pertaining to the interaction between the users and digital content.
The culture of sharing digital media has become widespread in the contemporary environment (Cope & Freeman, 2001). File exchange programs have become plentiful in the market. Some of these software can be acquired free of charge. When equipped with such software, consumers can easily illegally acquire digital content that is being sold commercially. Firms that commercially market their material are at a high risk for reduced profits. Moreover, the threat to business integrity is quite substantial. The need for protection is then motivated by the need to secure the continued profitability of the businesses that are at risk. Unless protection measures are adopted, businesses will suffer thereby jeopardized future developments in the society.
The copyright laws that have been implemented thus far have proven to be inadequate at curtailing the perpetuation of this vice (Park & Scotchmer, 2005). Such inadequacy has been sourced from the difficulty associated with both policing the internet and the apprehension of the culprits. To some extent, the effectiveness of the Digital Rights Management technology is pegged on their ability to inhibit the stealing of digital content. The apprehension of the culprits has proven to be quite difficult. There is then a need to focus on Digital Rights Management. The dependence on the world to digital technologies will continue to be amplified into the future. The goal of safeguarding the welfare of the future generations, then, necessitates and justifies the need to focus on digital right management.
The advent of the digital age has had significant benefits to the contemporary society. It has realized a widening platform for the interaction between the society and technology (Fetscherin, 2006). The culminating effect is a higher dependence on the contemporary society with technology. It can be postulated that in the future, there will be a higher degree of dependence of the society on technology. Corporations have also appreciated the need to have a digital platform. Research has established that the adoption of a digital platform, best exemplified by a company website enhances the potential for improved profitability. Essentially, a company website expands the range of customers to which the firm can appeal. The internet is used by a large demographic. There has been growing accommodation of this technological feature by the aging population. It can then be asserted that firms will be able to access various demographics when marketing via the digital platform.
The increasing incorporation of technological elements into the consumer world has compelled the need to provide related products (Safavi-Naini & Yung, 2006). With time, there has been an influx in the products being availed to the consumers. Digital media have now been ingrained into the consumer culture. With an influx in digital media, there has come a need to protect the industry from exploitation. The same dynamics that have been cited as the instigators of the development of digital media have also been responsible for the development of the risks.
With advancement in the technological world, there has come an increasing capability of the unscrupulous elements to negatively impact the society (Umeh, 2007). Piracy poses a threat to the technology industry. The people or rather the parties that perpetuate the vice of stealing otherwise protected materials have been able to exploit on the weaknesses of the systems that are in place. It has to be appreciated that there are indeed various legal restrictions that have been implemented to protect otherwise restricted material. The advanced awareness of the technological framework using which digital content is created and encrypted makes it quite easy for the unscrupulous parties in the society.
The legal provisions that have been set up thus far are inadequate at addressing the perpetuation of the vice being investigated herein. The legal provisions that have been set endeavor to apprehend the culprits responsible for piracy of digital content (Pedley, 2005). However, such an approach has proven to be rather inadequate in the long run. The inadequacy characterizing this approach has been hinged on the flawed methodology that has been employed. The focus on apprehension has been cited as the core rationale explaining the inadequacy of the current approach.
It is about time that the approach to DRM be focused on curtailing the motivation to commit crime pertaining to stealing of digital content. Adaptability is critical to the success of the approach to be adopted. The laws protecting against stealing digital content have proven to be rather inadequate in the long run. Several studies have ascertained this actuality. Given this finding, the best course of action would have been to approach the problem from an entirely different perspective. The potential effectiveness of this approach far outweighs the benefits to accrue from intensifying the current approach.
Functionalities of DRM
The core function of the DRM mechanism is ensuring that there is an appropriate use of digital content (Information Resources Management Association, 2013). The framework under which digital content has been founded makes it increasingly susceptible to misuse by the unscrupulous elements. Moreover, there is high potential for misuse of the content. There is then a need to ensure that there are mechanisms in place to ensure that there is limited room for misuse. There are different forms of protection that have to be availed via the implementation of DRM. Ensuring that the product is well protected from tampering while enabling free and easy distribution of the digital content is a focal purpose of DRM. The mechanisms that are in place ought to be positioned in such a manner that enables free and easy distribution. The factor of distribution is coupled with the element of tracking. The mechanism that is employed ought to be such that it fashions an environment of effective tracking. It has to be noted that the mechanism to DRM dictates the m...