In recent society people have started to take advantage of fair uses. People have been purchasing songs,
shows, or movies then instead of just keeping it to themselves and close friends, which is permitted by
fair use, they go out and share it will the whole world. That is where digital rights management (DRM)
came into play. DRM allowed software creators, publishers, and any copyright holders of digital content
to limit how their product was used after sale. With some things it limited them to only one computer,
or wherever it was downloaded. Other things DRM could do was put a limit on how long that product
could be used by the user. All these restrictions brought up a controversy of whether DRM limited fair
uses. Many people thought that since they purchased the product they should own it and be able to do
what they choose with it. This makes you wonder if you buy some sort of digital content, do you actually
own it?
When our group got together we started discussing what we thought this meant to us. We decided that
some companies DRM did cross over fair uses, one being when companies decide to limit the amount of
time the purchaser can own it. We thought that since they bought it they should own it for as long as
they want. We did realize that most companies will make the restrictions clear to the customer before
they make their purchase. In that case the customer knows what they are getting in to so they have no
case against restrictions to fair uses. Just because a customer buys some product does not give them the
right to do whatever they want with it. They can use it for their personal use, but that is it. They have no
right to remove DRM just because they bought the product.
Going off the topic of companies who can sell their music or movies then include DRM tools that will
make the file expire after a certain amount of time. We had a long talk about this, and we came to the
conclusion that it is appropriate for companies to do this since it is their product. They created it so they
can do whatever they want with it. It would not be ethical to have a file that someone paid for just
expire if the customer does not know about it. To make this practice ethical the company would have to
inform the purchaser of what will happen to the product before they buy it. This is because that person
did pay for it so they do own that piece. The company would have no right to do what they please with
it when they do not own it.
I agreed completely with what our group came to the conclusions of. I personally have done my fair
share of buying songs and movies, and I feel like I have done a good job of obeying to fair uses. I try to
look at it from the other side, if I made something and sold it would I like it if that person then gave out
my product. I would be very mad if someone did this, so I try to limit myself from doing the same. When
it comes to music and movies it becomes a tough thing to abide by. It is so easy to just let someone else
listen to a song, or see a movie. You just have to make sure you do not give that other person ownership.