"Digital Rights Management, a system for protecting the copyrights of data circulated via the

Internet or other digital media by enabling secure distribution and/or disabling illegal distribution of the data"
Webopedia (2011) DRM. [Online]. Available from: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/D/DRM.html . [Accessed 22/12/2011].

What is DRM, and why is it required.

Once upon a time, when personal computers and the internet were not in widespread use, most intellectual property was somewhat secure and did not warrant any special means of protecting them. Although the concept of piracy was the same at the time, the media in which they were stored (may it be a audio or video cassette, compact disc or printed book) was physical, and thus could be protected from exploitation using traditional means. Much has changed since then., with the advent of personal computers and the internet, most media can now exist in the digital realm, existing as electronic pulses of 0's and 1's; and can be created, copied and destroyed in the blink of an eye with little or no effort. Perfect copies of music, movies, literature and photographs can now be duplicated, and transferred from one location to another via the internet with much ease. Enter DRM, a collection of technologies and concepts that offer the right holders more control over their "digital" property. From e-books to MP3 files, from streaming to downloaded media files, the Digital rights management tools are giving their creators the option of restricting the illegal distribution of their digital assets. The Job of a DRM system Establish the copyright of the content Manage the distribution of the content Control what the users can do with the content

a typical DRM Protected audio file

"With or Without You - U2" Mp3 Label: 'Island'

Obligations

Rights

Restrictions

1$ off next month

Download

Play

Copy

Download: 5 times Play:Unlimited

DRM schemes restrict and control reading/viewing/playing the item; number of times start and end dates for reading printing the item at all poor quality printing number of copies altering the item changing information content removing copyright marks copying the item making copies others can use copying parts of the work taking screen dumps as copies running the item as a program (Applicable for software only) running the item on one computer only allowing one user to run the item limiting the number of CPUs the item may use.

DRM Schemes as per media Audio

AudioiCD's used a method called "Extended Copy Protection" that utilized a software application bundled with the audioCD which restricted the un-authorized copying of the audio CD tracks Internet Music is frequently offered by multiple vendors with embedded DRM Apple, one of the major distributors of online audio via their itunes store, use its own FairPlay DRM scheme embedded music. Sony Music uses a DRM scheme called 'Connect' that uses sonys own OpenMG DRM technology Napster Music Store uses its own DRM in its sold music Video

DRM on video is usually implimented on online playback of digital video content. There are usually two components a video DRM implimentation. 1. The Server Part 2. The Viewer Part (Or the player)

In most content delivery systems, there is usually no difference between the open and secure content. DRM systems usually use a one way encryption system with master and session keys to encrypt the stream. Quite a few vendors exist for video encryption Flash As flash and flash video is a very popluar platform, this is the pefect system to develver protected content to viewr Microsoft Playready The Windows Media DRM is one of the first providers to offer DRM. Therefore, most smart playback devices and personal computer comes pre-installed with it Widevine DRM Recently aquired by Google Inc, is very popular as its supported on many consumer smart devices. Marlin DRM. Another DRM with support on some consumer devices.

Images

DRM or Digital Watermarking images is occasionally used to protect copywriter works. Organizations such as Digimarc use a method of digital watermarking that is persistent and imperceptible yet is able to withstand manipulation. Digitally watermarked images can be manipulated, scaled, printed, scanned and yet the watermarking would be readable and the authenticity of the image could be obtained. This sort of DRM is used by photographers, designers and content producers who want to manage royalties and keep tabs on the distribution of their content. Books

Electronic Books or e-books are specially made electronic documents made to be viewed on specialized ebook readers or on person. E Books are published and distributed electronically using a few formats. A typical DRM technology implemented on a e-book is usually used to limit copying, sharing and printing. Popular E-book formats 1. ePub

Electronic Publication by the International Digital Publishing Forums One of the most popular e-book formats in the wild, ePub is a reflowable format, meaning that the text can be auto formatted as per the playback device DRM on ePubs can be in the form of Adobe Adept DRM, Apple Fairplay DRM and Marlin DRM.

2. mobi Mobipocket by Mobipocket SA. Is the e-book format that was made popular by the Amazon Kindle Reader. Has the ability to sore un-encrypted and encripted ebooks with DRM. Mobipocket files can be protected with its own original Mobipocket DRM.

3. pdf The Portable document format developed by Adobe a very popular graphics distribution format because of its strong ability to store text, graphics and images into a cross platform graphics file. PDF also doubles as a ebook format because of its ability to be viewed on mobile devices. PDF are encrypted with Adobe Adept DRM,

References
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/drm1.htm

http://www.alpvision.com/watermarking.html

http://www.vide.net/help/drmintro.shtml http://www.locklizard.com/Introduction_to_Digital_Rights_Management.pdf http://www.dlib.org/dlib/january01/neylon/01neylon.html http://www.digimarc.com/technology/about-digital-watermarking