Gurrney - DMCA, DRM, and your Rights Pt. 2

DRM was initially used as a way to prevent the piracy, or selling illegal copies, of films, music, and games in their digital forms and to protect the rights of the people who created the films, music, and games, however DRM is now used to take away the rights of the consumer. Under the DRM laws you, the consumer, do not have the right to create a backup copy of your DVDs, music CDs, or game DVDs and game CDs. If these physical devices are damaged then you no longer have the right to posses its contents unless you purchase another copy from a legitimate source. Even ripping the contents of a legally acquired DVD or CD and placing it syncing it onto an iPod is a violation of the DRM laws, instead groups like the RIAA and MPAA want you to purchase the film or music in its physical form and then purchase a "digital copy" which could be created using software such as Alcohol 120% which is widely available on the internet. Simply put, it costs you $20 to purchase the right to view a movie, $15 to listen to an audio CD, and anywhere from $4 to $80 or more to play a video game; however the money you spend on these privileges doesn't give you the right to OWN the content.

Even more ridiculous under the DRM is the way in which it affects artist. An artist who signs on with a major label, such as Roadrunner Records or Virgin Records, no longer earns any of their songs which are published under the label. One such example involves artists Weird Al and James Blunt; in which James gave Al permission to create a track parodying his song "You're Beautiful." the track was to titled "You're Pitiful." however Weird Al is not allowed to profit from this track because Blunt's label, Atlantic Records, informed him that he did not have the RIGHT to give permission to Weird Al to parody HIS song and then revoked James's permission. No loner is DRM a group of laws used to prevent piracy, it is now a set of laws used to PROFIT big name label records and special interest groups such as the RIAA and the MPAA instead of PROTECTING the artist, DRM is NOT about intellectual property as we are led to believe it is about money.