Issue 18: Spotlight on Technology
By Dr. Roger Korby

DRM -or- Why Your Technology Isn’t As Cool As It Could Be

As consumers we have found ourselves in a strange place when it comes to technology and content. Up until a little while ago, the limits placed on technology were “natural,” meaning engineers could create as cool or tricked-out a device as they wanted and the only limitation was their creativity and/or skills. Lately, though, a rather troubling trend has emerged. The people that create the content that is played by these devices have started exerting control over the design specifications of the devices themselves. DVD players must be approved by, I think, the FCC and the FCC will only approve players that include certain anti-piracy solutions. These solutions prohibit most of what we as consumers have grown to understand as fair-use, (ex: the ability to make a backup of a DVD so that the original doesn’t get scratched).

A good question to ask yourself is: “Whose interests are being served?” When Tivo makes the new version of their DVR, are they really trying to build the ultimate recording device for their consumers? Or are they caving to the demands of backbone-less content providers? For me, the ultimate TiVo would include the following features:

• The ability to quickly and easily move my recorded video onto a device such as an iPod Video or some other video playing device. (Note: this would require that Apple made the iPod more flexible than it currently is… again the technology industry is catering to the content providers instead of the consumers)
• The ability to quickly and easily move my recorded video onto a computer in my house to do things like edit out commericials, (assuming the ultimate-TiVo didn’t do this for me already)
• Maybe a built-in DVD burner to burn shows or movies to DVD
• WiFi enabled, (to easily move files to and from a computer or other wifi-enabled device)
• Support for high def video
• No DRM (Digital Rights Management)

Nothing in this list would be crazy difficult to implement. Ten engineers with a decent chunk of money could probably spit out a prototype of this device in a few weeks. A 13-year-old hacker dude could make his computer do most of what I’m talking about in one afternoon with software that is either free or relatively cheap. With a tiny bit of marketing, these would sell like frickin’ hotcakes too.

The main reason we as consumers don’t have and will probably never get this wonderful machine is DRM. The content providers are terrified of piracy and in their eyes DRM is part of the solution. I think DRM is a terrible solution. It gives the content providers a gross amount of control over what we as consumers do with the content we buy. I’ve already written a whole article about how much I hate DRM, (to read it, go here), so I won’t go on about this too much longer. But to support some of the stuff in this article, here is a list of my main beefs with DRM:

• DRM breaks fair-use. If I buy music or a movie, I should be able to play it or convert it so that it will play on any device.
• DRM doesn’t work. Thanks to the so-called “analog hole” as long as we are still allowed actually to experience the content, (listen to it, view it, etc.), there’s a way to copy it, (recording it off the sound card, using a camera to record the video off the screen.)
• DRM is not needed. Every single drm’ed song or TV show that is available for sale online is also available DRM-free on some sort of p2p pirating website. It is not like putting DRM in a song will keep it from ever leaking out onto the web. Piracy has always been an issue and will always be an issue but there are ways to make a profit selling content without DRM. Not many have tried this, but eMusic is an example of a company that has Just Said No to DRM and is still doing incredibly well.

For consumers, buying from a legitimate online store is more convenient than searching for a pirated copy of the item they want. If I had to choose between A) searching for 15 minutes for a song and then downloading it from an unknown source at potentially slow speeds, and B) logging into a legitimate online store and pay a dollar or so to download the same file quickly, I’d choose option B every time… IF there was no DRM on the file. I wish more companies would follow on the path that eMusic has bravely blazed.

What I am asking for here is nothing short of complete interoperability between all the devices in my house, where applicable. To get this, digital content needs to be stored in open, non-proprietary formats. This would require a change in the mindset of all content providers. Start selling your content in open, non-DRM formats. If this happens, the people who make the technology that plays your content will be free to pull out all the stops and create some kick-ass hardware, hardware like the hypothetical Tivo described above. iTunes and eMusic have gone a long way towards proving that people are willing to pay money to have access to commercial free music, TV and movies. Imagine a future where you could download a TV show from iTunes for a dollar or two in HD with 5.1 surround sound and be assured that it would play on any TV or video-playing device in your house. Until the content providers get over their infatuation with DRM this sort of exciting technological future is basically impossible.