My group thought that companies do have a right to use digital rights management technology. What we thought was unfair is when the product is not advertised with the restrictions or the restrictions are not made clear to consumers. As long as these restrictions are clear, so that the customer is not fooled, the company reserves the right to manage the digital rights.
As a group we discussed that the development of devices that remove digital rights management is unethical. Thus, selling and buying software designed for this removal would also be wrong. The owner of the intellectual property maintains the right to do what they want with the material as long as the rules and regulations are made clear upon sale.
We learned of some advantages of self-destructing files for music/movies.One advantage is that companies would not have to worry as much about the sharing of files of this type. The self destruction ensures that the person that bought the file is the sole user. There are also disadvantages. People may be less apt to buy files if they are aware that they physically can not duplicate the file. If a file self-destructs, then the customer would have to re-purchase the material, which would cause an inconvenience. Our group discussed both the pros and cons and thought it would be unethical to sell content that would eventually destroy itself. Once a person has purchased something, they have the right to use it.
I agree with every aspect that our group discussed for this topic. The owner should definitely be in control of the digital rights management for their intellectual property that they created. Anything that is removed without the owners consent is considered illegal in my book. As far as self-destructing files I believe it is a great idea, but only in theory. I believe the actual execution of the idea is unethical. Once a person invests in a piece of music or a movie, they should be guaranteed that they can have it forever, with or without the digital rights management that may or may not be associated with that piece of media. The consumer has purchased the file, the company received profit, now they should enjoy it for an extended amount of time.