A Different Approach To DRM...
The current approach being taken by media firms distributing assets digitally is to wrap them in some form of content protection - commonly called DRM (Digital Rights Management) - to stop their content from being freely shared on the internet.
While ostensibly aimed at addressing the issue of piracy, DRM schemes have become an ongoing burden to honest individuals that purchase content digitally. They limit what hardware they can use for listening or viewing, the number of devices it can used on, the vendors people can buy content from, as well as legitimate fair use rights.
And the situation will just get worse over time...
I would like to propose a completely different approach to DRM - an approach that in no way limits what an individual can do with content they purchase.
Instead of using DRM to embed controls into content that are very difficult to remove, what if the approach was to embed a very difficult to remove signature of the purchaser? Anyone that purchases content could use it any way they pleased on any device they wanted to use it on. They could even share it with friends or family. They could even share it using BitTorrent or eDonkey.
The catch is, they could no longer do it anonymously...
If any piece of content could be uniquely traced to a specific person, most digital consumers would be far less casual about who they shared it with. In fact, they would probably be extremely careful about who had access to it and what they did with it - the same way they would with a physical asset.
Instead of adopting the current model of treating everyone like a thief or pirate, this approach would simply align the interest of the purchaser with those of the copyright holders and creators. It would let people use the content they purchased freely, but not treat it as free content.
While I recognize the technical and business issues that would need to be addressed in making something like this work, it would certainly be a welcome change from the current DRM methodology.
It might be worth a closer look...
Wednesday, July 5, 2006
