I have come a long way to use and make my life an open source one. I mean the technical aspects of it, and the tools and equipment I am currently using. Free or open source softwares powers me and my pc but the release of the said law would just prevent/further limit the possible use of it.
DRM explained (wikipedia)
Digital Rights Management (generally abbreviated to DRM) is any of several technologies used by publishers (or copyright owners) to control access to and usage of digital data (such as software, music, movies) and hardware, handling usage restrictions associated with a specific instance of a digital work. The term often is confused with copy protection and technical protection measures (TPM). These two terms refer to technologies that control or restrict the use and access of digital media content on electronic devices with such technologies installed, acting as components of a DRM design.
Digital Rights Management is a controversial topic. Advocates argue DRM is necessary for copyright holders to prevent unauthorized duplication of their work to ensure continued revenue streams.[1] Some critics of the technology, including the Free Software Foundation, suggest that the use of the word “Rights” is misleading and suggest that people instead use the term Digital Restrictions Management.[2] The position put forth is that copyright holders are attempting to restrict use of copyrighted material in ways already granted by statutory or common law applying to copyright. Others, such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation consider some DRM schemes to be anti-competitive, citing the iTunes Store as an example.[3]
Enterprise Digital Rights Management (E-DRM or ERM) refers to the use of DRM technology to control access to corporate documents (Word, PDF, TIFF, AutoCAD files, etc), rather than consumer playable media. The technology usually requires a Policy Server to authenticate users’ rights to access certain files. EDRM vendors include Microsoft, Adobe Systems, EMC Corporation/Authentica and several smaller companies. There are open source implementations as well. EDRM is generally intended to apply to trade secrets, which are much different from copyrighted material (though there is sometimes an overlap with material being both copyrighted and a trade secret — eg, software source code), and for whom the primary issue is industrial or corporate espionage or inadvertent release. In most jurisdictions, there is no notion of fair use of trade secrets as there is for copyrighted material. Trade secrecy confidentiality measures are less controversial than DRM applied to copyrighted material, which is commercially sold in many copies.
In simple words/example:
Suppose we have a router with a flasheable memory(let it be assumed wrt54g ) and it came with DRM with it. This would then not let us see the code that powers the router, check for flaws, and possibly flashing it with our own (improved) software.
It’ll also be shipped with anti-forge measures like content scrambling system i.e. cryptographic keys like the one’s incorporated with the proposed GPLv3 draft for one to really see the code.
Restrictions is also an added limiter to the DRM enforcement.
Other examples are(wikipedia):
- Digital imprimatur
- Inclusion of commercials on the “unskippable track” on DVDs reserved for the copyright notice;
- Using the DMCA to restrict access to items that do not qualify for copyright, such as garage door openers and printer ink cartridges;
- Adding restrictions on text-to-speech conversion in the EULA of e-books;
- BBC IMP trial for downloads of DRM-encrypted audio and video files; uses the Kontiki peer to peer file distribution system. Allows no user control of the background up and downloading, leading to considerable slowing of user PCs and potential exhaustion of allowed data transfers without warning due to the nature of peer to peer type operations, with only the option to shut down the user’s computer or disconnect from the Internet. BBC content is time-limited and will only play on the machine to which it was downloaded or an officially authenticated device participating in Microsoft’s DRM scheme.
- Sky’s ‘Sky By Broadband’ scheme also uses Kontiki with similar results.
- Using Copy Control schemes to thwart the existing statutory and common law exceptions to copyright holder control (such as fair use), as for instance in regional coding of media (such as in DVDs);
- The possibility of dominant DRM-inclusive recording and playback technology being used uncritically by users unaware of the dangers and consequences thereof, and potentially later locking them out of their own creations, as with SCMS in consumer-grade DAT equipment;
- Preventing academic publication and distribution of information relating to flaws in computer security in the absence of the permission of the creators of said technologies;
- Silencing individuals who have found serious flaws in software used in electronic voting.[11]
- Restriction of medical records and personal financial information using DRM to protect consumer rights. Insurers, lawyers and loan companies have strongly objected to the use of these technologies to prevent patient, hospital and practitioner records being more freely accessible due to copy and forward restriction applied to patient or customer records.
- As of 2005, in American dental schools students are required to purchase textbooks on DVD. The DVDs are readable only on an authorized computer and only for a limited time, after which the DVD expires and the information in the “DVD book” becomes unreadable. Some of these books are not available on paper at all. The New York Association of Copyright Stakeholders have protested and documented this at http://fairuse.nylxs.com with the help of NYLXS.
- Stopping or making archival of the content, even allowed such like in libraries, hard or impossible to do due to practical and technical reasons – especially when considering that the content should still be accessible even if the publisher disappears (bankruptcies etc).
- TiVo 7.2 OS adds content access restrictions, blocks transfers, and auto-deletes some shows
- The 2005 Sony CD copy protection scandal
- Aesthetic objections to onscreen DRM threats interfering with relaxing and watching a movie.
- The Swedish Pirate Party wants to outlaw most forms of DRM.
- The legal inability to disable DRM restrictions, even if they “threaten critical infrastructure and potentially endanger lives” [12]
- Many DRM systems restrict playback to a single device and, to date, no provider has offered to renew this licence when the device is upgraded.
- Some WMDRM protected files will install spyware such as Zango when the user agrees to retrieve a license to play the file.[citation needed]
- In Playstation 2 version of Ape Escape: Pumped & Primed, save game created in the memory card is copy-protected, and cannot be transferred to another memory card. This is the first known instance where a publisher has enforced DRM on private data, rather than just data copyrighted by publisher.
- The PlayStation 2 CD-ROM format games are protected and cannot be copied with normal copy software. Curiously, the DVD-ROM format games doesn’t have this type of protection.
- The Xbox 360 games has advanced security code which prevents copying of the games.
- The Museum of Just Not Getting It[13] makes an attempt to tabulate the worst DRM-related decisions by media companies.
Conclusion:
I really don’t want the enforcement of DRM. It’ll only create monopoly with the previously written open source software or with the future products affected with it. With the advent of community creating and finding holes/exploits in the open source softwares and the “bayanihan” or contributions made by them to further enhance security will be lessened. If only money and copyright (who got the rights to a particular software/anything) are the factors driving DRM to enforcement, consider sugarcrm which creates an open source version and is powered by community but still releases the enterprise version for which they are earning from, also take a look at how MySQL, also Red Hat.
True to it’s nature it is driven by insecure companies who wants to monopolize their own business’ source of revenue. Who are insecure enough to have their own code be seen and scrutinized. Who are selfish enough to not let the people have the what they own.
Communism powers the open source community. It is then and therefore community who developed and creates codes/designs of our product. There are many companies who does have their own product copyrighted. Why then there is a need for DRM if they’ve got their copyright busted in the face of their products?
I rest my case, in my case it’s my palms.
