Digital Rights Management: An Introduction

Digital Rights Management (DRM) encompasses all the technologies used by the owners of the digital content to control access and usage of their copyrighted creation. By allowing access and usage of their prized possession, the owners of the digital content make revenues as well as build a viable business model around their content. While the battle between the content owners and the distributors and users exists for nearly a decade, the battle has now reached the digital space with the popularity of the computers, DVD’s and software that allows copying of digital content many times without reducing the quality. While the DRM opponents feel that it is designed to restrict the free use of information, the DRM advocates feel that the owners of the content should have control over the use and distribution of their work. The book introduces DRM and covers the work going on in various well – known DRM schemes like DIVX, CSS, Product Activation and Digital Water Marking. The book talks about the history and evolution of DRM covering the legal and regulatory framework, which is now in existence after the coming of the Digital millennium Copyrights Act (DMCA). The book also goes into the technique of DRM architecture as well as the security aspects of a DRM package. The book gives valuable insights into issues like costs, compatability and what a customer of DRM should ask for before buying a DRM package. On the other hand, the book talks about what the DRM vendors as well as the manufacturers of consumer products should do to better comply with the needs of both the content providers and their customers. The book also predicts the evolution of DRM.