Digital rights management, or DRM, refers to technologies built into software, games, music, video and e-books that restrict how a copy of the work can be used, copied or shared, typically by requiring a license check or encryption key before the content will play or run. Publishers and technology companies began building DRM systems into commercial software during the 1980s and expanded the practice through the 1990s and 2000s as music, film and publishing moved to digital distribution, including systems such as Apple's FairPlay for early iTunes purchases. The source consulted for this entry names no single inventor or origin date for DRM as a category, so none is recorded here; it remains a persistent source of dispute between rights holders seeking to limit unauthorized copying and users and researchers who argue it restricts legitimate use of purchased content.
Facts
Partially Attested
YearThis source names the 1983 Software Service System as the first example of DRM technology; no single origin date for DRM as a category is established here. SignificanceTechnologies that govern the use, modification and distribution of copyrighted works such as software and multimedia content. 1 FAQs
Why is bypassing digital rights management a legal issue and not only a technical one?
The 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act sought to outlaw bypassing DRM.
In the United States, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 sought to outlaw any attempt to bypass DRM, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. That group argues the law is a main reason DRM spread, and it criticizes the rule for treating buyers who want to use media and devices they bought in unapproved ways as lawbreakers. Rights holders defend DRM as a protection against unauthorized copying, so the dispute is partly about how far a purchase entitles a buyer to go.
Connections
In Field
Source Wikipedia: Digital rights management
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Digital rights management
History section, early DRM systems
In 1983, the Software Service System (SSS) devised by the Japanese engineer Ryuichi Moriya was the first example of DRM technology.
Lead section, third sentence
DRM technologies govern the use, modification and distribution of copyrighted works (e.g. software, multimedia content) and of systems that enforce these policies within devices.
In Field: Software Engineering, Introduction
DRM technologies govern the use, modification and distribution of copyrighted works (e.g. software, multimedia content) and of systems that enforce these policies within devices.
In Group: Network and Authentication Security Technologies, Introduction
Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content.
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