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Digital rights management
Digital rights management (DRM) refers to the laws and technologies which provide intellectual property owners control over the distribution and use of their material by controlling consumers' use of it. The claimed goals are to prevent copying of digital media and to restrict access and content use to what is allowed by copyright law.[1]
Critics refer to it as "Digital Restrictions Management", and argue that many of the restrictions it enforces go well beyond the rights granted by law.
History
Copyright law is the earliest form of intellectual property protection. This area of law developed for print media, long before copying machines and digital media, and has not necessarily kept pace with technology.
Legal Background
The copyright since its formal creation in 1710 by the British Statute of Anne and its inclusion in the U.S. Constitution[2] has been the main protection scheme for intellectual property rights for creative information goods and services.
Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the U.S. Constitution: "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries."
Copyright law grants exclusive legal ownership of information under specific conditions and terms. Through two major revisions of U.S. copyright law in 1909 and 1976,[3] the range of content and media forms covered by legislation were expanded.
During the pre-digital era, large-scale copying was expensive and usually resulted in degraded content. The development of electronic and digital media transformed the production and distribution of information goods and services. In digital form, the content could be copied perfectly or easily converted to another form or format, and thus lifted the physical constraints of copying. The rise of digital media and networks made sharing and copying not only easier for traditional information "pirates", but also made it easier for individuals. Unlike the "pirates" whose unauthorized copies were for commercial gain, individual copying stems from behavioral norms from traditions of fair use and first-sale rights.
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