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Print Edition StoriesFriday, January 9, 2009
How We See It
RIAA needs to accept it: DRM is dead
By Mass High Tech staff
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Whatever side you come down on concerning the unauthorized downloading of songs, it is time to agree that the market itself has moved past such debates, and the web distribution of paid-for music is toeing the edge of becoming the de facto standard way of getting that content to consumers.
While Apple Inc. and its ubiquitous iTunes store can be credited with driving that distribution model, companies such as Amazon.com Inc. have won over the hearts and minds of the casual downloader by providing music completely free of any usage restrictions, commonly called digital rights management, or DRM.
While even a rights-control freak like Apple has seen the light and made nearly all of its music available on iTunes free of DRM code, the Recording Industry Association of America is still pressing forward with its frivolous lawsuits designed to punish casual downloaders. Among those still facing a court date are a Boston University grad student named Joel Tenenbaum, who is facing a fine of more than $1 million for allegedly downloading seven songs from KaZaA seven years ago. You read that right, seven songs. In 2001.
It is time to give up the concept that a given company can keep tight-fisted control of how its products are used by an individual, legal buyer. Aside from obvious restrictions such as illegal reselling, Amazon’s success has proven that taking away crippling restrictions on content promotes legal usage — and more business. In the light of such a market realization, the RIAA needs to stop its purely punitive lawsuits and move into the 21st century.
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