The problems with digital rights management (DRM)

The anti-digital rights management crowd has to be heartened by some of the latest comments from researchers.

Speaking today at a conference in London, Cambridge-MIT Institute senior research manager Ian Brown said that DRM’s flaws have been easy prey for hackers to date. He said music and movie companies have been unable to exploit DRM to protect their content, and suggests that what they should really be doing is looking at a different business model. He pointed to the band U2 as an example of a group that uses its music to promote its other merchandise, such as tickets to concerts. Of course, U2 might be a tad better position than other bands to take that approach given its successful track record.

Brown also noted that watermarks inserted into content are still “primitive.” Read more about his take on DRM here.

Speaking of watermarks, here’s what a Princeton prof has to say about how they fail on his blog.

New to all this? Here’s a DRM definition and an audio primer.

Bob Brown, bbrown@nww.com