UK Government refuses to ban DRM
by Jan Harris
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thank you for visiting!
Although the UK Government has rejected a call for digital rights management (DRM) to be banned in the UK, it also acknowledged that consumer rights could be undermined through the use of the technology.
Blogger Neil Holmes posted an online petition, calling for DRM to be outlawed, on the government’s e-petitions Web site. The petition, which warned that DRM could infringe consumers’ freedom of choice, was signed by 1,414 people.
The term DRM encompasses a number of technologies used by publishers to control access to and usage of digital data or hardware.
Holmes’s petition cited a 2006 investigation into DRM by the All Party Parliamentary Internet Group, an independent Parliamentary organisation.
This group advised that consumers should be protected against invasive technologies such as the rootkit-like program used by Sony on some music CDs in 2005.
Sony did not disclose that the DRM technology was installed on the CDs and the programme hid itself from the operating systems on people’s PCs.
This led to complaints from consumers that the inclusion of the technology violated their rights to full disclosure about the products they bought from Sony. The problem was made worse when virus writers used the technology to hide malicious software.
In its response to Holmes’s petition, the government said that DRM technology allowed content companies to offer the consumer unprecedented choice in how they wished to consume content and the price they wished to pay.
However, it also advised that the needs and rights of consumers should be safeguarded. It said consumers should be informed of exactly what is offered for sale, how and where they will be allowed to use the product, and of any restrictions that apply.
Questions? Discuss this in our Internet Business forums for help and advice
Story link: UK Government refuses to ban DRM
Add to Bookmarks:
Related stories:
2 Responses to “UK Government refuses to ban DRM”
Leave a Reply
Previous: « Amnesty calls for ISPs to protect free speech
Next: Eutelsat launching satellite broadband »
Visited 2828 times, 2 so far today
drm should be banned. when you pay for a cd or legal download, you should be able to copy the songs to cd ( for personal use) and to mp3 players. Why should companies be able to heavily restrict your use of something you own legally.
DRM, Digital Rip-off Management
Truth is i wont purchase any content that has been DRM’d.
I believe its illegal in the UK to sell an item that denies you any right you are legally given. i.e. to backup your own data.
wheres trading standards… ahh yes… too busy protecting the providers pockets and not the consumers rights.
things must be bad when even rip-off apple want rid of DRM, mind you they have made a fair sum of cash from thier DRM’d itunes.
I could go on… however… theres just not enough space on the internet just yet :)