The music and film industries and even software developers are dramatically affected by illegal sharing of their copyrighted materials. How do they combat this problem? Do the methods these industries use to protect their rights interfere with our use as consumers? On this episode, we discuss digital rights management and how it is used to protect copyrights and its effect on consumer use of digital media.
Guests
Dan Satorius
Dan Satorius
Dan co-chairs the entertainment law department at Lommen Abdo. He assists individuals and businesses in the development of intellectual property within and outside the entertainment industry.
John Riedl
John Riedl
John is a professor at the University of Minnesota in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. His research focus is on collaborative systems that support human interaction through computer systems.
Links
To find out more about digital rights management, see Wikipedia's Digital Rights Management entry.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation works to protect consumer’s digitals rights.
Other online resources:
- The Customer is Always Wrong: A User's Guide to DRM in Online Music,
- iTunes Fast Start: The New User's Guide to iTunes, and
- iTunes Store Customer Service.
Additional information on music services and devices that use the PlaysForSure format is available on the PlaysForSure site.
DMCA
Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a U.S. law that covers copyright-related issues. It was signed into law on October 28, 1998.
DRM
Digital Rights Management. Technology that protects the rights of copyright owners by controlling the use and distribution of digital media.