Now if only publishers would wake up and follow the watermarking idea if they really have to do something. That makes far more sense than DRM and I'll gladly live with that.
More on DRM
Quote:
"DRM can encourage piracy", Duke University
After 4 years of DRM-free music, the industry has now enough data to be able to work out what impact the removal of DRM has had on the market and on piracy. Recent research from Duke University, reported by Wired last October, argues that DRM actually encourages piracy as it penalises honest users (the 'good guys').The dishonest ones (the 'bad guys') are not really affected by DRM because they exchange files which are not protected in the first place and can enjoy a version of the ebook/music/video without all the restrictions that come with DRM.
Analysis from Enders, a UK based media research company, shows that the revenues for music publishers kept on growing when DRM was removed (see chart above). Revenues declined after the credit crunch in 2009 but are now recovering and growing again.
DRM is not the cure (#DRMIsNotTheCure)
Looking at the data and considering the side effects, it appears that DRM not only is not the cure to piracy but it's actually causing some pretty serious 'collateral damage'. Here's a few of the undesired side effects which could be attributed to DRM:
· Can encourage piracy and at least does not seem to prevent it
· Can help incumbents lock-in customers inside non-inter-operable silos (read a good piece by Cory Doctorow on this point)
· Reduces the perceived value of an ebook due to the number of heavy restrictions (making the ebook inferior to the paper book)
· Reduces competition as vendors don't have a truly inter-operable solution
· Reduces innovation as the locked down nature of DRM'ed ebooks removes the flexibility necessary to develop new ideas
· Increases the cost of ebooks (the DRM cost is on top of everything else)
These are quite striking side effects. If DRM was a medicine, I would hope the MHRA would not approve it.
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