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

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