Digital Rights Management or DRM for short, is an invention
the rational amongst us wish had never come to be.
It’s been an issue for so many people in the music industry,
and has brought about negative consequences to all. That includes
everyone involved in it’s establishment, from pioneers to consumers.
The latest example
of its ill effect on the digital space is the unsavoury fallout
surrounding the
decision by Google to shut down its Google Video division to
focus exclusively on the development of YouTube.
Google Video, for those unaware, is/was a venue for free as
well as
paid-for rentals and purchase-to-own titles. Thousands of items
populated its terribly designed
store front.
It is a
relic that would quickly be forgotten, were it not for
Google’s abrupt
decision to halt access to its video-store-centric servers entirely.
Yes, it’s true, they’ve chosen to bar existing
customers from even
having access to items already purchased from the website.
DRM Infused Media
The reason
for this being the presence of DRM in the code of each and every video
purchased from Google video store. Upon playback of such DRM-infused
media, Google’s servers are contacted to authenticate the
videos’
purchase.
Because customers will no long be able to successfully
perform such actions, any media downloaded from Google will not be
possible to view after today, August 15th.
While there surely are better ways the Google Video team could
bid
adieu to a terribly unsuccessful effort, one may deduce from
the company’s cold-handed tactic that Google is hoping to
stir up
enough frustration come mid-August to catalyze a discussion on the
effect DRM has had and continues to have on the new Web-based digital
media landscape.
DRM clearly is a nasty development. Why not anger
enough people to disturb the status quo and force some much needed
edits to “the system”?
Of course, if one considers the number of customers Google
Video has
amassed over the course of its existence as a moneymaking enterprise,
the movement would be rather small, and therefore carry a relatively
weak voice. Not something Google could do much with, could it?
DRM Must Be Put To Rest
Still, DRM must be put to rest. Permanently. Regardless of
media
companies’ concerns about copyright infringement and illegal
proliferation, it does no good to hinder legitimate use with
restrictions to “avoid misuse”.
If consumers wish
to purchase media
from one venue and play it back elsewhere, they should be able to do
so, just as they are able to do with physical discs and the various
components that decode said discs.
If fair use rules are not put in
place now or in the near future, the battle over DRM can be something
that pushes back innovation needlessly for at least several years.
Paul Glazowski is a contributing author discussing the social networking world, his work can be found on Profy.com
